


For Reasons Unknown

by silverathena



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Multi, Professors, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:51:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverathena/pseuds/silverathena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loneliness comes in many forms, but what Caroline knows for sure is that she seems to have it mastered. As a college professor, Caroline has pretty much given up on ever finding someone she can trust again. Klaus hasn't believed in love for a while now, but that doesn't stop him from trying to chase a certain infuriating blonde. Slow burn WIP fic originally posted on fanfiction.net.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ice Cream Incident

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on fanfiction.net, and was my first attempt at a longer fanfiction. Unless the Vampire Diaries miraculously returns to season 3 form, it will most likely remain unfinished, fair warning. Also, I was not as knowledgeable of the ways of the adult world when I first wrote this fic, and some of the phrasing and references to things I hadn't experienced at the time makes me cringe. Nevertheless, in interest of presenting this work how it appeared, nothing has been edited. (Okay I did make one small edit, but seriously, who orders straight up vodka to sip at a bar???????)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet our characters and get some background information. Also, Klaus and Caroline briefly meet.

"Dr. Forbes, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Elijah begins. He runs his fingers through his carefully gelled hair before straightening his tie and grabbing his lapels. Caroline often wonders how a man can always look so put together, not one hair of place and always clad in a designer suit. But today, her department supervisor is uncharacteristically rumpled looking. He doesn't look like he wants to continue speaking at all, so Caroline decides to prompt him.

"What bad news?" Caroline ventures. It's only her first day, she couldn't have messed up that badly yet.

Elijah leans back in his chair before frowning and responding in his British accent. "Well, I'm afraid that one of your new colleagues released a rather harsh attack on your most recent paper last night. Dr. Merloup took issue with your view that culture develops from a fundamental goodness of humanity. To put it frankly, he tore your paper to shreds, and insinuated some displeasing things about your character." Elijah leans forward and clasps his hands together as Caroline freezes in shock. "I am informing you of this not necessarily because I find any fault with your paper, but because he is your colleague in this department, and I know that he can be… difficult to work with. I thought I'd warn you before trying to confront him… he's fairly new also, but… he can be somewhat overpowering."

Caroline pauses a few moments before replying, a tiny frown etched on her forehead. "Maybe there were some problems with my paper. I can understand someone attacking my paper, but me? Isn't that really unprofessional? Like, that's just a way to discredit someone without actually attacking their argument." Caroline says, carefully moderating her volume so she didn't start yelling in frustration. Control your temper, she told herself sternly. She could understand people attacking her paper, like she had told Elijah. She had been in a hurry moving to get to her new professorship gig at Columbia, so of course she might've overlooked a couple flaws in her paper before she published. "Dr. Mikaelson, what did he insinuate about me?" Caroline continues carefully, stressing the word insinuate.

Elijah looks doubly uncomfortable. Weirdly enough, it seems like Elijah agrees with her that Dr. Merloup's behavior was unprofessional, but for some reason he was choosing to warn her instead of discipline him. Caroline is suddenly struck by a realization. Elijah actually seems kind of scared of this man, which iss strange because Elijah doesn't strike her as a meek man. "He might've insinuated you were unintelligent and received your doctorate through other means than your intelligence." Elijah mumbles, wincing as he prepares for Caroline's reaction.

Caroline starts rocking back and forth, muttering under her breath. "… that no good mother kisser … how dare he I'll show him intelligence… he won't know what hit him…" Caroline continues cursing him for about 20 seconds before Elijah addresses her again. "Dr. Forbes?" No response. He sighs. "Caroline?" Caroline reluctantly looks up at him, fire burning in her ice blue eyes.

"My advice to you, as someone who's been in your exact position, is to not let it bother you." He pauses, considering his next words. "I chose to hire you for a reason, and what I expect from you now is to prove Dr. Merloup wrong." He smiles kindly at her as Caroline looks up at him and gives him a small, determined smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Mikaelson. I won't disappoint you."

"Please," Elijah chuckles as he leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "There's no need for formalities, Caroline. Call me Elijah." Caroline nods gently and grabs her briefcase as Elijah dismisses her. She decides that she likes Elijah. Yeah, he's a little stiff, but she's glad to have found a small welcome in the frigid ranks of academia, where she had expected to find only mistrust and hostility.

\------------

It's one of those days where Caroline feels like she's starring in a sitcom that the entire point is to put the main character through hell for the sake of comedy. Yeah, like when one of her lectures began with her accidentally opening up a slideshow of spring break '06? Hilarious! Staining and tearing her outfit as she's presenting in front of her grad students? Embarrassing and relatable! It seems like everything that could go wrong on her first day at work did go wrong. She's late, she spills coffee, she accidentally almost cries in front of her boss, every crosswalk she hits says don't walk; the list goes on and on.

It isn't really as bad as she's making it seem, she knows. As a newly minted assistant professor at Columbia, she knows she's the object of much envy from her peers from her PhD program and the whole of academia. She loves anthropology and teaching, and couldn't imagine a better job than getting paid to do what she loves. Plus Columbia seems like a good place so far, judging by her supervisor, Elijah. Caroline is very aware of the fact that she can be dramatic at times, but today she chooses to ignore her mind and follow her stomach, all the way down the stairs and out to the ice cream shop down the street.

She makes it to the shop without too much trouble (that taxi almost hit her, and she knows now that high heels and these sidewalks do not mix) and steps in line. It's one of those open-air New York City cafés that seem like they belong on the streets of Paris, and the peaceful atmosphere relaxes Caroline as she closes her eyes as she feels the breeze play with her hair and the sun dance across her eyelids. This is it, she thinks as she buys her chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, this was the life I've always wanted. Caroline has finally reached her place of zen, the dream that got her through grad school and post-doc. But as they say, what can go wrong will, and Caroline provides excellent proof of this as her heel gets caught in a crack in the sidewalk and the world starts to turn sideways.

My ice cream! Caroline whines internally as she watches it fall off her cone in slow motion. Caroline mentally prepares herself to hit the ground, a skill learned from all her tumbles as a cheerleader. Weirdly enough, Caroline doesn't mind falling, which served her well in high school. It's a sort of freedom for her, as the rush of sinking weightlessly through the air always masks any sort of pain she might've felt from hitting the ground. A lot sooner than she had expected, Caroline lets out a surprised "oof!" as she feels something break her fall. As she looks up, she realizes what has saved her the mild embarrassment of falling on her face. An attractive man is holding her in his arms, and he now has chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream all over the front of his expensive looking suit. "Seriously? Could this day get any worse?" Caroline mutters, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing it would all disappear like some bad dream.

The man, hearing her comment, chuckles as he lifts her back upright. Alright asshole, Caroline thinks as she took in the self-satisfied smirk on his face, no need to rub it in. Noticing the ice cream again, Caroline suddenly goes into panic mode. "Oh! I'm so so sorry! Let me clean that up for you!" She grabs a couple napkins from the table and begins frantically pawing at his jacket with them.

"It's quite alright, love," he replies. OOhh, hot and british, Caroline's inner devil thinks. Shut up! Not now we're in panic clean mode, Caroline's inner angel replies. Yeah, he probably has as girlfriend, remarks the devil. Truth, also, don't you have a boyfriend? the angel replies. He's not my boyfriend! It's complicated. Now both of you shut up! I'm trying to deal with this here! Caroline thinks as she continues apologizing for spilling the ice cream. "No, it's fine, this suit is a bit dull. You had quite a fall there; I'm just satisfied that I was there to stop you from hitting your pretty little head," he flirts. This guy isn't an idiot. He knows an opportunity to get to know a pretty girl when he sees it. Caroline, oblivious, just keeps mumbling apologies on autopilot and pawing at his chest. "No really, it's fine," he continues as he takes Caroline's hands in his and holds them while he gazes into her eyes while trying to get her attention. Caroline's frantic mind momentarily goes blank as she struggles to come up with any sort of response.

"Thank you. I've just had a horrible awful day and everything is going wrong I keep messing up people saw my embarrassing photos and I spilled coffee on my new clothes and I was late and now I'm here with a cute British guy and I have no idea-" Caroline pulls her hands from his and covers her mouth in shock as her cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

The man laughs again, this time a real, mirth filled peal of laughter. "Call me Klaus. Although I don't necessarily mind being calling, how did you put it, 'Cute British Guy'?" Klaus grinsd almost wofishly and continues. "Fancy a drink? You could tell me about that awful day of yours. Try me, I won't bite."

Caroline tilts her head to the side. It's a tempting offer. She could see it now, him taking her to a fancy restaurant while harp music and wine glasses tinkled in the background. He would take her home and right as he was about to kiss her good night she'd pull him into her apartment to spend the night and he'd leave in the morning before she had woken up, never to be seen again. Well, that took an unexpected turn, she thought. She looks up, realizing she'd paused for too long and Klaus is still looking at her expectantly. "Um, I have this thing with my friends tonight. Maybe some other time when I'm having another bad day." Caroline lies through her teeth and smiles politely. Without anything else to say, she just nods awkwardly and abruptly walks off, attempting to spare herself further embarrassment, turning around the corner and leaving Klaus speechless and slightly disappointed. She has gone about 4 blocks before she smacks herself in the forehead at the realization that she hadn't even bothered to ask for his phone number. Oh well, she pushes him from her mind and forgets about him faster than yesterday's breakfast.

\------------

Sounds of the city and night waft in through the open window as Caroline twirls around her apartment. "Let it go, LET IT GOOOO!" She sings in a loud, horribly off-key voice. "BECOME ONE WITH THE ICE AND SNOW!" She slides into the TV room, hair in a bun, sweats, and no makeup, with her hairbrush as her microphone. Don't judge her okay? Frozen was a totally cute movie that made her cry it's not her fault sometimes she just needs to sing to distress or, "Unfreeze", as she calls it.

"I'm pretty sure those aren't even the right words," drawls a bitchy voice as Caroline hears the sound of the apartment door closing. In walks a pair of stilettos attached to a pair of fabulously tanned legs in a suit that if looks could kill, it would be shooting daggers. A slender, olive-skinned arm reaches up and pulls out a bun and chocolate waves cascade over her shoulder's as Katherine Pierce, lawyer extraordinaire, casts a inquiring look at Caroline as she crosses her arms over her chest. She studies Caroline for a moment before sighing and sashaying to the kitchen. "Don't tell me," she starts as she pulls a bottle of wine from the fridge as Caroline just flops on the couch, "You're 'unfreezing'. Ugh what happened today? I thought this was supposed to be quote, the super special awesomest day ever unquote." Katherine says the words with air quotes as she walks over to the couch with two wine glasses in hand.

"I was not 'unfreezing'! My day was just fine… actually, it was awful, but I don't wanna talk about it," Caroline pouts while she sticks her tongue out unhappily while Katherine just looks at Caroline with tired eyes. Changing courses, Caroline looks at Katherine with concern. "What are you doing home so late? It's almost 9 o'clock. Shouldn't you have been home a lot earlier?" Now that Caroline really looks, she can see the bags under Katherine's eyes, almost unnoticeable due to the heavy application of concealer over her entire face.

Katherine just leans back and sips her wine. "Alaric's being a real little bitch. He's making us stay longer because we've got this huge case coming up. Whatever though. I worked like this when I was a junior associate, but I thought those days were over. Whatever." Caroline realizes that Katherine probably has had just as bad of a day as her, but she's trying to downplay it. She can see the mistakes and reprimands in the slight stress lines on Katherine's face. Not that she'd ever mention to Katherine that she was starting to get some tiny wrinkles.

"Cheers," Caroline raises her glass and clinks it with Katherine's glass, "To horrible days, and the next ones being better." "And to hot guys that we're going to pick up this Friday!" Katherine adds, letting out a whoop of exhilaration. Caroline groans and covers her eyes with her hand. "What?" Katherine demands sharply, suddenly sitting up and glaring at Caroline. "Don't tell me you're not coming out with me to celebrate your return to New York after 5 years." Caroline just looks at her and mumbles something about work. Katherine jumps on top of her and slaps her across the face. Hard.

"Ow!" Caroline exclaims. "Seriously Kat?" Caroline says, rubbing her cheek as Katherine ignores her attempts to push her off. "You even said yourself you're working really hard so I thought maybe you'd want to stay-" Katherine just glares at her again and rolls her eyes.

"Caroline Forbes, you've known me since I was 3. When have I EVER stayed in just because something lame was going on?" Katherine grabs Caroline by the shoulders and shakes her a little. "Hey! Hey! Look at me. You're going out with me Friday night. You have no choice. Actually, having a bad day is just another reason why we are going out. You've been wound up so tight over this whole little professor thing you need to loosen up. No more feeling sorry for yourself by 'unfrozen' or whatever." Caroline opens her mouth to deny her stress but Katherine's expression silences her before she can speak. "So, you agree with me, right?" Katherine cocks her head to the side as Caroline nods meekly. She doesn't have the strength right now to stand in the way of bulldozer that is Katherine.

"Good," nods Katherine as she gets up off Caroline, a new spring in her step now that she's gotten her way. "Oh, and by the way," Katherine says matter of factly as she steps into her room, "You're coming with me to the Salvatore's Thanksgiving party. I'm told that Stefan has a secret announcement that he wants to share with everyone."

Caroline picks her head up, sensing the nonchalance in Katherine's tone. "Everyone?" She asks, and unspoken question passing between her and Katherine. Katherine just keeps fiddling around in her room, not responding to Caroline's question. "Everyone?" Caroline repeats, more forcefully this time, waiting for the answer she already knows is coming.

Katherine comes out of her room in her pajamas and looks at with Caroline with a strange expression on her face that looks something like pity, if Katherine ever felt sorry for anyone other than her self. "Caroline," she begins carefully, "Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Jeremy will be there," she pauses gently, "and Bonnie and Matt," she mutters, immediately turning away from Caroline.

Caroline sits there, more frozen than she was before. She feels like she needs to sing Let it Go about 100 times before she'll be okay again. She's been sitting still for a while before Katherine gets concerned enough to come up and poke her to see if she's still alive. "No," Caroline mumbles.

"No?" Katherine seizes the small response and tries to work with it. "No what?"

"No," Caroline starts, her voice increasing in volume, as she continues, "No, I'm not going with you You know what they did to me. I don't ever wanna be in the same room with them and I NEVER wanna hear their names again!" Caroline swirls the wine around in her almost empty glass. She takes the bottle and dramatically pours the rest of it into her glass and gulps it down like it's water and she hasn't drank anything since last Christmas.

Katherine rolls her eyes. She's used to Caroline's dramatics. She knows she does her fair share of crazy, so she's unfazed by Caroline's antics. Still, Caroline is really chugging that bottle. "Wow there Paula Abdul. Slow down you're not trying to drown yourself." Katherine takes the wine glass from Caroline's lips and sets it down on the table as Caroline lets out soft whines of protest. "Are you drunk enough to talk about this yet?"

"Kat, you know I'll never be drunk enough to talk about this."

"Caroline, it's okay. I'm your friend! I chose you over those lying backstabbers. We've been through this," Katherine says in one of her rare moments of genuine caring. "I mean, you've never said how you felt. Honey, you were engaged. You have to let someone in eventually so you begin to get over it."

There's a long pause as Katherine curses herself for choosing the words she did, but she knows that she needed to say something. "Get over it?" Caroline finally stutters, "Is that what you want me to do? Just get over it?" She lets out a frustrated laugh. "God, it would be so much easier for everyone if I just got over it, right Kat? Then we could all be a loving family again and we can forget everything they've done." Katherine remains silent, knowing that once Caroline gets going it's hard to stop her. "Don't you remember? They RUINED my life. I was all set, just graduated, ready to finally settle down with Matt, the only sweet guy I've ever met in my life, and Bonnie… she was so happy for me. How could she…?" Caroline gets up and paces over to the window, lost in thought as she finally spills over like Niagra Falls. "Was it too much to ask for a guy that chose me first? That I was his top priority? I was hurt, and of course I left because I didn't want to see his stupid face or smell her stupid perfume anymore. They're dead to me. " She looks down and shakes her head as she continues bitterly. "God, I was so stupid."

"Care, it's been 5 years. Maybe it's time to just hear them out and get some closure so you can move on with your life." Katherine rests a hand on Caroline's shoulder. "You haven't had a relationship since then. You can't keep living like this."

"I have Tyler," Caroline mumbles, knowing that this isn't an excuse and that Katherine can see right through her pathetic excuse for a boyfriend.

Katherine scoffs. "Please, gimme a break. Like it's gonna go anywhere with that idiot. Plus, I'm about 90% sure that he's actually gay. I've had him pegged since college." Katherine flips her hair over her shoulders as she checks her nails.

Caroline looks scandalized. "Katherine! He was the biggest athlete in college. He's totally not gay at all. He is like the least gay person I've ever met." She cringes slightly at how those words came out.

Katherine is nonplussed. "Hey, my gaydar is off the charts banging. We'll go out Friday and I'll find you a nice man to make you forget all about what's his face. We're not finished talking about that party though."

Sensing that the conversation is finished, Caroline nods. "Thanks Katherine." It's two simple words, but they contain multitudes. She's thanking Katherine for making her laugh, for knowing when to pry or not to pry, for making her laugh. For being a best friend through thick and thin.

Katherine nods, understanding this silent, unspoken connection. Caroline is one of the few people that actually understands her and has been there for her for practically her entire life. They share everything, well, maybe that one thing, but… it doesn't matter anymore, Katherine thinks as she leaves Caroline to her thoughts.

Caroline sits on the couch for a while longer, just thinking. She remembers Matt's laugh and the way his blue sparkled right when he was about to surprise her with some great big good news. She still remembers the sound of the voice and the way he smelled when he held her tight to his chest on the bed in their tiny dorm room, feeling like nothing could touch their tiny little world as New York spun around them. She remembers laughing until her sides split with Bonnie as she told stories about how her crazy grams thought she was a witch because her plants always grew so well, but really the whole time Bonnie had just been putting extra miracle-gro on the garden. They would sit in the back of the class and have intense debates to rank the hotness of their fellow students as the pretended to study. She remembers all three of them together, along with Katherine, Elena and Damon, laughing together as they sat at a sidewalk café and everything felt like summer that she wanted to inhale that moment and live in it forever. As much as she told Katherine she hates them, she misses those times where she felt like a piece of a puzzle snugly pit into the right place. Now, sometimes she feels like a dog has ripped up the puzzle and chewed her up and spit her out.

For some reason her mind wanders to the man she met today. What was his name? Ah, Klaus. He was cute, she thinks. Much cuter than Matt or Tyler. At least today proved she could probably do better looks-wise than those two. But she still isn't exactly sure if anyone can match the love she had with Matt.

Caroline glances at the clock and rolls her eyes. She knows its no use dwelling too much on the past, but she can't seem to let it go. Oh well, she thinks as she trudges off to bed, at least she has a job she loves and a true friend in Katherine.


	2. Books Aren't Babies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline and Klaus meet, and we find out more about their lives.

The soft light of the powerpoint casts an alien glow on Caroline's face as she switches off the lights. She looks out at the expectant faces of her students and straightens her shoulders as she sighs in relief. When she's nervous, she paces back and forth across the classroom so much that the student's heads look like they're on swivels. But today, her students will not be leaving her class with neck cramps, because she is calm and poised, like a queen presiding over her kingdom.

She breezes through her introduction to the course, and gets into the thick of things. She starts into her lecture about the different types of Anthropology, and gets so excited she goes on long, off-topic rants. Oh well. Her kids are sleeping anyways. She remembers what it's like to be a sleep-deprived college kid.

She's talking so fast and enjoying herself so much she almost forgets one last thing. "Hold up guys! Wait up one second I need to quickly explain the project!" Caroline waves her hands crazily and jumps up and down as her students sigh and stop packing up their things. "Okay, this is pretty important, because it's a non-traditional new idea I'm trying-" She pauses as she takes a sharp intake of breath. Because sitting right in the back row, with a petulant frown on his face, is the hot British guy – what was his name? Klutz? Klaus? – with a suit and tie on. Her face gets pink as he gets to his feet and leaves, arms crossed over his chest, his face a scowl of annoyance. Caroline stands up straighter and collects herself as she pushes her racing thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Yeah, the project. What I want you to do is submit a proposal to this email-" she goes to the board and jots down her email address "-by next week with a proposal to informally study another culture right here in New York City. The idea is to study something that not many people understand and tell me why it merits explanation. You will be writing a larger paper on this, so make sure it's something that you can really sink your teeth into." Caroline cringes. Maybe she's been using too many colloquialisms. She should definitely try to speak more like a professor should. "These writing assignments differ from conventional research papers or field studies insofar as the point is for you to demonstrate your ability to integrate questions and ideas from the course readings. The central criterion for grading is your creative and synthetic use of these course readings—typically, engaging salient moments or arguments from three course authors in each paper—more so than the specific dimensions of your chosen field site." She stammers as she looks up at her students, who look thoroughly confused and finally she sighs. "Alright, you guys can go now. Follow the syllabus and you'll do fine in this class."

Her students file out as she gathers her belongings, stopping a moment to check her email. Oh shit, she thinks as she sees the first email in her inbox from Elijah. FACULTY MEETING 10:00 Schermerhorn is all it says. Even in text Elijah is concise and aloof. Caroline looks up at the clock. It's 10:05. Late, Late, late, LATE! Screams her inner control freak as she runs, clutching her bag to her chest. She bursts into the meeting room out of breath as everyone turns to stare at her. Caroline is about to apologize when she looks around the room and her eyes fall once more on the "guy", as she's been calling him in her head. "Are you stalking me?" She blurts before opening her eyes wide and clamping a hand over her mouth.

Klaus starts a little and looks at her with a mixture of shock and disdain. Caroline is a little confused because it seems like now that this "guy" knows that she is a professor he seems to look on her as if she was something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe. Elijah coughs and gestures for her to take a seat and Caroline is about to speak again before she thinks better of it and takes her seat in silence.

Klaus Mikaelson rubs his temples as he tunes out what Elijah is saying. What is it? Some crap about departmental unity that he vomits up every year? No thank you. See, Klaus has had an eventful morning. Actually, it all started yesterday when he literally ran into that beautiful woman at his favorite coffee shop. When she fell into his arms, he didn't even care that she had just ruined his favorite suit. Something about her felt warm, melty, like fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Even though she wasn't his usual type, he knew true, effortless beauty when he saw it. As she had awkwardly bumbled around, trying to apologize for her clumsiness, he felt himself beginning to smile, a true grin like one he hadn't smiled in ages. It was like he was inhaling the cloud of happiness that seemed to cling to her like perfume. She had seemed receptive to his advances, but for some unknown reason she had abruptly turned away. Klaus had just shrugged his shoulder and forgotten about it. There are other women in this world, he thought as he caught the eye of a sultry brunette checking him out in the street.

The next bit of news he had received completely occupied his mind for the rest of the day. Elijah had pulled Klaus into his office and seated him down. "Why are you putting away your vases, brother?" Klaus asked as Elijah moved anything that seemed remotely breakable. Elijah just continued in silence before sitting down and calmly saying, "Brother, it appears that our dear sister has become engaged."

Klaus had gotten up and immediately looked for something to break. Finding nothing, he turned to Elijah and started yelling. "WHAT AN IDIOT! THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME! Foolish little sister always convinced by a few kind words that someone is in love with her. Doesn't she remember how the last ones ended? They only want a piece of our fortune, mark my words Elijah-"

Elijah had let Klaus continue on his tirade for several minutes before interrupting him. "Klaus, if this new paramour of Rebekah's worries you, he and Rebekah will be in New York for Thanksgiving where we will have a chance to uncover his intentions. In the meantime, try not to make our sister cry." Elijah had spoken the last words like it was only brotherly duty that had made him utter them, knowing full well that Klaus wouldn't hold back when he called Rebekah.

Klaus had called Rebekah that night, but she never picked up. Klaus remembered having thrown the phone across the wall and cursing his sister for not answering his calls. A wine bottle and a cigarette later, for some reason his mind returned to the blonde from earlier that day. Before he could realize what he was doing, his hands had grabbed a sketchbook and were starting to carve out her face onto the marble page. No, he didn't draw, he thought as he threw the sketchbook aside. Not anymore.

His pique had continued that morning, when he had been asked by Elijah to supervise one of the new professors, a one Dr. Caroline Forbes. He was looking forward to writing a scathing review because he had read her paper and disagreed vehemently with just about everything she had written. As soon he entered the classroom, his mouth opened in surprise. It was her, the ice cream girl from yesterday. He had been prepared to dislike this new professor, but as she lectured on, he found he couldn't entirely hate her. She was a little meandering sometimes, but her passion and enthusiasm brightened up the 8:00am class and managed to hold the attention of the students. Klaus had frowned at her as he had tried to reconcile the idea that this beautiful woman could appear to be so smart and passionate but have ideas that were just wrong.

Now, at this faculty meeting, with her rude outburst, Klaus immediately finds himself switching from guarded admiration to annoyance. Who was she to provoke him, a lowly new assistant professor who was probably only hired because Elijah had a thing for pitiful creatures like her. He just looks at her with disdain and leans in to whisper, "I could ask you the same question about stalking, love."

"Please, gentlemen and lady," Elijah nods to Caroline, who is the only female professor in the room. "I would like to get to the real point of our meeting here. Recently, our esteemed president has given this department a substantial sum for extra research, with the stipulation that it must be awarded fairly. I have decided that in order to foster growth and interdepartmental unity, you will be assigned a partner and be required to create a proposal. For those of you without tenure, this is an excellent opportunity to show this department what you might be able to achieve." Elijah pauses, smoothing his already immaculate suit. He pulls a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. "Dr. Jones with Dr. Smith, Dr. Smoak with Dr. Manning, and finally Dr. Merloup and Dr. Forbes." If silence that followed were any colder Caroline would've been frozen solid. She slowly turns to Klaus, who is seething at Elijah.

"Dr. Merloup?" She stutters, her eyes widening as she realizes the truth of why he looked so disdainful in her class this morning.

"The one and only," he turns to her, gnashing his teeth. Both Klaus and Caroline turn to yell at Elijah. "Elijah, why would-"

"Elijah, you know he completely hates-"

"-she can't even write a-"

"-personally victimized me and-"

"-refuse to teach a new professor-"

"-please switch me with someone else-"

"Enough!" Elijah shouts, slamming his fist on the table. "I do not have time for your juvenile antics. I expected better from you, Dr. Forbes and Nikl-I mean, Dr. Merloup. All decisions are final. I expect your completed proposals by February 1rst." Elijah forcefully straightens his folders and leaves Caroline and Klaus to glare at each other.

"What are you looking at, doctor?" Caroline narrows her eyes and crosses her arms across her chest.

"Just some fool who thinks she can be a professor."

Caroline raises an eyebrow. Oh, she can throw down. "At least I'm not someone that looks for papers to destroy because it inflates my ego. Unlike some people."

Klaus sees red as leans in close to Caroline. "Foolish girl, Elijah only hired you because he has a weakness for pretty faces. Do yourself a favor and leave academia to the adults and find yourself a nice husband and live a nice, quiet, suburban life with two kids and a dog."

Caroline looks on in horror. She cannot believe he just said that, to her of all people. In hindsight, she is so glad she didn't take him up on his offer after the ice cream incident. "Okay, since you just met me, let's get a couple of things straight, mister. One, I'm not a 'fool', and insulting me here is horribly unprofessional. And I'm flattered that you think I'm beautiful enough to convince Elijah, one of the most methodical and intelligent men I have ever met, to give me a job at one of the most elite Universities in North America. Two, in case you haven't noticed, I am an adult, and if you thought you could just insult one of my papers, and I'd run for the hills, crying, then you are so wrong buster. And three: Seriously? You're going to throw the whole 'get a husband and have babies' card at me in this day and age? Honestly, I'm surprised women don't barf on your shoes when you open your mouth and spew your misogynist crap." Caroline clenches her fists, shaking in anger. She hasn't gotten this worked up in ages.

"Says the woman who was in my arms yesterday." This gets the attention of Elijah, who is the only one left in the room after the other professors have inched out and away from the conflict brewing between the two young professors.

"It wasn't like that and you know it!" Shouts Caroline as she stands up, knocking her chair to the floor. "If I had known it was you that caught me I would've slapped you in the face!"

"Alright love, whatever you say. But I remember the way your heart was beating, and I don't think that was because you were scared of falling." Klaus grins as he watches Caroline get even angrier. God, it's so easy for him to push all of her buttons. Maybe this will turn out to be an interesting year after all.

"God, this is totally unprofessional and inappropriate. I can't even look at you anymore. I'm going to do some actual work." She sneers at Klaus before stopping out of the room and into the hallway, a blonde tornado leaving mayhem in her wake, knocking aside students as she mutters to herself.

Elijah is still for a moment before he looks at Klaus. "Niklaus." It's just one word, but in it contains a lifetime of warnings and reprimands. Klaus ignores him and gets up and leaves the room. Elijah sighs in dread because he knows the look on Klaus's face. It's one of hunger, one of determination. It's the look that says the game is on.

\-----------

Beep. Sherriff Liz Forbes. Leave a message. Beeep! Caroline sighs as her call goes straight to voicemail. She is sitting in her tub, surrounded by candles that smell like cinnamon and vanilla. She tries again to reach her mom, but she isn't picking up. Caroline finally surrenders and leaves a voicemail. "Hi mom, it's me, Caroline. I'm just calling… um… because it's my birthday and I haven't heard from you and I'm just wondering if you're okay… So yeah… Call me back when you get the chance… love you… bye." Caroline hangs up with disappointment. She didn't really expect a birthday call because she hasn't gotten one for the past 5 years, but it still would've been nice.

Caroline usually doesn't ask for much for her birthday. All she needs is a gentle congratulation from Katherine and she's fine. And maybe it would've been nicer if she didn't have a self-assured asshole yelling at her. She actually hates her birthday it she's being honest, because it always reminds her of her mother's words, that-

BRINNGGGGGG! BRIIINNGGGG!

Caroline smiles. Katherine always figures out a way to change her ringtone from "Let it Go" to that annoying old phone ringtone. Caroline wouldn't be surprised if this is Katherine now, calling to see how she's doing. "Hey bitch, how's it going?" Caroline asks without even checking the caller ID. There's silence on the phone line for a couple seconds and Caroline starts to get worried. She quickly pulls her phone back to glance at the ID. Shit. "Um, hi mom. Sorry about that I thought you were someone else." Caroline winces as she waits for the yelling that she knows from experience is about to start.

Surprisingly, Liz doesn't start yelling. "…Uhhh… HIIIIII… How is… my beee-yoouu-tifulll daughter?" The slurred words confuse Caroline for a second.

"Mom, are you drunk?" Caroline doesn't believe it. But the giggling on the other line confirms that her mother, uptight Liz Forbes, respectable Sherriff of small town Mystic Falls, VA, is drunk out of her mind.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Oh… don't get your panties…" Caroline can hear muffled giggles, "in a twist… I'm fine… I'm not drunky monkey."

"Yes, mom, you are. Why are you drunk? Never mind, I don't wanna know. Just go to bed and get some sleep."

"No… I'm not fine…" Liz starts whispering as if sharing some big secret, "I'm worried for my daughter, Caroline."

"Why are you worried about your daughter?"

"HAHAH… My daughter… turns 29 today…" Liz sounds pained.

"Oh, so it's her birthday… that's not that bad... why don't you call her and wish her a happy birthday?"

"NO NO NO! It's not a good thing. My daughter… had a great life… she was engaged, and he was a great guy… what's his name… Mike? Mutt?"

"Matt. His name was Matt." Caroline replies quietly.

"Ah, yes, Matt. But then-" Lizs pauses in that dramatic way that drunk people do "-she threw it all away! She gave up on him to be… a professor! Can you believe it! She was all set with a good husband, and then… she throws it all away… She couldn't hang on to him…a professor. She's gonna get so old with all her books that she's not gonna be able to have any babies."

"Well, maybe she doesn't want any kids. Have you ever considered that?" Caroline spits, clenching her fingers around the phones.

"No no, honey, you sound young… lemme give you some advice… Books aren't babies! She better get married soon… and give up that stupid job of hers, because her clock is ticking…" Liz pauses for another moment before getting angry. "Do you hear me? BOOKS AREN'T BABIES!

A single tear falls down Caroline's face. "Would you love her even if she didn't have babies? Do you still love her?"

This is the moment of truth. This is the one thing that Caroline has doubted her entire life. Every since her dad left, she's been holding on to this question, always suspecting her mom wasn't telling the truth, that those words really meant nothing to her mother. Now it's time for the truth in a way that only drunk people can deliver it.

"I'd love her a lot more if she gave me some grandchildren…" Liz mumbles grumpily. "OOOHHHH DANCING WITH THE STARSSSSSSS! I'M COMING MAKSIM SCHMERCHOCOHCOSJOYYYY-EY" Liz giggles childishly and then hangs up abruptly, leaving Caroline speechless.

"Love you too, mom," Caroline says finally, after the end of their first conversation in five years.

\------------

Klaus glances over the paper again and sighs. It's no use. He's been going over Dr. Forbes's paper and his rebuttal for the past several hours now. He would never admit to himself that he was too harsh, but… let's just say that he's said some things that would make even Perez Hilton's skin crawl. Her paper was well written, and with a closer look he can see that she is obviously intelligent and well educated, but there's something about the fundamental basis of her argument that he just can't seem to wrap his head around. Everything she assumes about humans seems to come from an idea that humans are fundamentally good. Klaus knows better.

He's seen an ugly, vicious side to humanity that they don't teach you in the shining halls of universities. The dark underbelly full of destruction and the lust for power are the true characteristics of humanity, learned the hard way in the streets among people that have nothing and perpetuated by those that have everything.

He can't help feel a little bit sorry for her. She probably had lived a sheltered life so far, grown up in a small town and always knew the difference between right and wrong with no shades of gray. Still, he wonders how someone could be so ignorant to not see the large moving pieces that surround the world, always set in motion by those who wanted to control others and the evil of humanity.

Klaus is sitting there pondering these thoughts when Elijah opens the door to his apartment and comes in without knocking. "By all means," drawls Klaus as he lifts his glass of whiskey towards Elijah. "Make yourself at home, dear brother."

Elijah strolls carefully to the bar and pours himself a drink, inspecting it and swishing it around before replying. "Now is not the time for manners, Niklaus. You almost got me in quite a lot of trouble today."

"Oh, come now, Elijah, you can't be mad at me for that. I was simply defending myself after Ms. Forbes attacked my academic integrity." Klaus smiles sarcastically.

"It's Dr. Forbes. Need I remind that the situation we are in is quite precarious? You would do well to avoid drawing attention to yourself lest anyone discover our connection." Elijah frowns as he paces. Sometimes he feels that Klaus doesn't take anything seriously enough.

"Elijah, you worry too much. As if anyone would ever believe that we are brothers. We look nothing alike, it's a wonder no one said anything while we were growing up." This time Klaus's smile hides a tiny bit of hurt behind it.

Elijah draws in a deep breath. He knows it's best to tread carefully when Klaus is in one of his moods, so he decides to avoid the subject that Klaus is hinting at and get strictly back to business. "Do remember, I was the one that got you this job, despite your less than spotless track record. Cross me again and I will be forced to stop supporting you and leave you alone to deal with the consequences from Mikael."

"Oh brother, you would never abandon me. Not after all that I've done for you."

"Yes," Elijah says with a faraway look in his eyes, shuddering in remembrance of an unpleasant memory. "Not after all that you've done for me." His brother can be rash, foolish, and frankly and absolute arse, but Klaus has helped Elijah out in ways that Elijah could never possibly repay.

"Good. Now that that's settled, if you could just lock the door on your way out," Klaus hints, dismissing Elijah and looking back down at his papers.

Elijah leaves, slightly flustered. He marvels how different his dynamic is with his brother when they are alone, Klaus, the younger brother, giving him the orders instead of the other way around. Elijah quickly shoves the thought away as he sees an old woman that needs help with her groceries and rushes over to help her.

\------------

Caroline slams her laptop shut and rubs her temples. She's halfway through her required office hours and so far no one has shown up yet. She really just wants to go home, but Elijah is down the hall and would know if she skipped out early from the required department hours. After the disaster that was last night, all Caroline wants to do is go home and curl up on the couch with a nice big tub of Ben and Jerry's. So far, she hasn't seen Klaus today, and for that small miracle she is glad. The nerve of that bastard.

Literally everything about him reeks of arrogant asshole. His profile picture is him at some exotic locale showing off his toned physique with a supermodel gorgeous blonde woman on his arm. What, no! She isn't stalking him. It doesn't matter how gorgeous his smile was or how his eyes are a brilliant blue or- nope, he was a total asshole.

A sudden loud BANG! Interrupts Caroline's thought process as someone stumbled into the room. It's a girl with bright pink streaks, ripped tights, a flowy bohemian looking top, and black leather boots who's clutching a messenger bag with tons of campaign buttons on it. She tripped once more over the carpet before stumbling and flopping into the chair.

"Hi, can I help you?" Caroline asks tentatively as she looks at the girl quizzically.

"Yeah, you can," the girl says matter-of-factly, "I've always wondered why Alex Trebek is such an asshole. I mean, he's got a pretty sweet gig, just reading questions or answers or whatever they call him, but he's such a fucking condescending asshole to every single contestant. I'm like, Trebek, I know you're not as smart as half the people on this show. Everyone knows it." The girl gives a huff of disgust as Caroline just stares at her, unsure how to respond.

Weirdly enough, Caroline knows exactly what's she's talking about. When she watches Jeopardy! (okay, all phD students watched the show, it was their version of a study break) she screams at the contestants and Trebek alike, but mostly just Trebek for being an asshole. "I don't know… maybe he likes the power he has over people?" Caroline asks, trying to figure out what this girl is getting at. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Oh! Completely forgot," The girl face palms, "I'm Anna. Johnson." She adds the last name like an afterthought.

"Alright, Anna, well what can I help you with? I don't think I explained the project clearly enough, so-"

"Oh no," Anna looks horrified, "I don't take your class at all. Well, I take it, but with that other dude. Merloup."

"Then… um… why are you here?"

"It's kind of a funny story, I mean, you don't really wanna hear it right? It kinda involves some other professors, and an incident with a frog, and a bright purple sequined top. I guess all that matters is I need your help."

"Alright," Caroline says reluctantly. "I won't ask. What do you really need my help with?"

"See, I have this project. Yeah, for class. And I just need your expert opinion on a certain thing because I want to know how humans would react in, uh, certain different scenarios." Anna pulls out a notepad and clears her throat. "For example, in a group of people, if one of them has… different interests than the others, I don't know, for example, one of them happens to like someone and they tell them, how would the group react?" Anna looks up expectantly, hope in her eyes.

Caroline smiles on the inside. It's obvious that this girl is asking her for relationship advice, but she decides to play along. "Hmm, I would say you should always tell them how you feel, because you might regret it later if you don't. You can't go through life worrying about what others would think."

"When you say you, that's, like, the collective you, not me, right? Because we're talking about a project here, not me."

"Oh, of course, no doubt at all, not you, collective you." Caroline reassures her.

Anna looks at her a second before continuing. "Good. Well, yeah, thanks for that, but what I'm asking is your professory perspective on how humans react to differences…"

"Well, some might react badly. Sometimes, the people you are closest to and love the most end up disappointing you with their expectations for you." Caroline says, flashing back to her mother's drunken antics last night.

"Hmm…" Anna says, chewing on the end of her pencil, looking philosophical. "But, maybe a reason they have expectations for you is that they do love you, and want you to be happy. Sometimes I feel like people are so caught up in trying to love themselves they forget how to love other people in the way they need to be loved."

Caroline is stunned by Anna's suddenly philosophical tone. Now that she thinks about it for a couple of seconds, what Anna said was so right. Caroline reflects on all the interactions she had with her mother while growing up. Everything that her mother did for her was traced back to Caroline's happiness, even if what Liz was doing didn't actually make Caroline happy at all. But still, the anger and bitterness is still there. Caroline still resents her mom for what she has put her through. She should've loved me for me, Caroline thinks angrily, she should've just been my mom.

"Um, hello? Are you still in there?" Anna asks, waving her hands in front of Caroline's eyes.

"Oh, um, yes, sorry!" Caroline snaps out of her reverie. "So yes, human nature in groups, and stuff."

"Yeah… Well, thanks for the help," Anna looks somewhat disappointed with Caroline's interest level. "I think I'm going to bounce now… I've got work to do, and uh, a paper to write." Anna shifts in her chair nervously.

"Okay, go, get to work. And why don't you come back here next week to chat about how that paper goes." Caroline crosses her arms and smirks knowingly at Anna. She had more than her share of dating troubles once upon a time.

"Thanks," Anna grins sheepishly as she stumbles around the classroom. That girl moves like a Jellyfish, crazy limbs floating and stumbling all over the place, Caroline thinks to herself. Still, she is glad that she came and talked to her. There's something about this girl that Caroline likes. Maybe it's her overall earnestness, or deep down, she kind of reminds Caroline of herself when she started college. Gosh, I'm getting old, Caroline thinks to herself as she sits back in her chair and waits for her office hours to be up.


	3. For the Sake of Professionalism

Klaus narrows his eyes as he tries to figure out the reason behind Elijah's unusually nonchalant demeanor. Fancy dinner? Check. Public Place? Check. Unusual lack of disparaging comments? Check, check and check. Klaus knows the only reason Elijah is doing this is to butter him up for the bad news that Elijah is sure to deliver.

Klaus suddenly slams his fist on the table causing the wine glasses to rattle and Elijah to wince. "Spit it out, 'Lijah."

"I do not have a clue what you're are talking about." Elijah says as he takes a delicate sip of wine. Manners meant something in his day, he thinks as he conveniently forgets that Klaus is only 5 years younger than he is. As the youngest department head at Columbia, Elijah has always felt older than his 37 years.

"You would never take me to this fancy of a public space unless you had some news that you knew would upset me." Klaus leans forward as Elijah dabs his mouth with his napkin.

"Fine. Two matters. One, you must apologize for your comments to Dr. Forbes regarding her personal life. Respectable professors do not attack Ad Personam, and I've let this obnoxious bickering go on for long enough. I guess I just had too much faith in your maturity and character, but I can now see that I was mistaken." Elijah lets out a self-righteous huff as Klaus rolls his eyes. "Additionally, I know we are using a fake name in order to hide our relation, but unless you smooth things over-"

"I'll consider it," Klaus says grudgingly. Even he knows that he went too far and fully plans on apologizing for what he said. But he hadn't had that much fun riling someone up in ages. Still, he knows some of the more misogynistic things he said went too far. 'Go and get a husband?' Who says stuff like that? Even though he knows what he said was wrong, but he can't feel too guilty. One of his strengths is sensing weakness and pouncing, and in this instance he regrets it. Plus, he really likes this job, and if he has to make nice to keep it, he will.

Elijah eyes him for a moment before continuing. "Secondly, we must discuss Rebekah's engagement."

Klaus throws his hands up in the air. "I thought we already discussed this! You told me, I got upset, and we accepted that our sister is destined to always fall for any fool that shows here any attention. Why bring it up again?"

"Niklaus, we did not agree, that was what you said."

"Details, details," Klaus says as he waves his hand in dismissal and picks up his glass "Tell me, what news are you so afraid to share?"

"The name of Rebekah's finacee," Elijah takes a deep breath, "is Stefan Salvatore."

Klaus chokes on his drink. He clenches his napkin and immediately becomes rigid and opens his mouth to shout before realizing that would cause a scene. Damn societal conventions that Elijah uses to his advantage. He sits beetroot red for a minute before he can manage a sound. "Stefan Salvatore," he spits, "That name does bring back memories."

Yes, he does remember that name. He himself had uttered it many times on the dark streets of London. The name reeks of memories of broken glass, car alarms and cigarettes. The wolf and the ripper, the press had called them, London's most notorious thieves. No one had known it was them, the son of a high society family and an American college student abroad. Their schemes had gotten grander and more reckless until finally Elijah realized how Klaus was spending his nights.

Elijah had stopped Klaus before he had gotten caught, and forced him to apply to phD programs in America, where Elijah was accepting a job soon. His college grades from two years before were stellar, and they were enough to get Klaus accepted and leave his old life of mischief behind. It was 7 years ago, so it wasn't that hard to forget anymore.

"That bastard," Klaus says, "There's a reason I never let him meet my sister! He won't know what hit him. He knows he'll never be good enough for Bekah. He probably lied about his past, and HA! She believed every word!" Klaus is practically foaming at the mouth.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not the one that's engaged then." Elijah quips. "Rebekah is capable of making her own decisions."

"Elijah, you know Rebekah, she-"

"Enough Niklaus. Our sister is an adult now, and it's time you started treating her like one. She doesn't dare judge your lifestyle choices, and if she has reason to accept an engagement, we should support her fully."

Klaus turns his head away in disdain. "Oh, Elijah, always the mediator."

"Always and forever," Elijah promises.

Klaus looks away guiltily. He doesn't deserve this level of commitment, especially after... never mind. "I guess… " Klaus struggles with the next words, "…guess I'll give him a chance to explain himself before I beat him up."

"That's all I ask," Elijah says, closing the matter. He peers at the menu as Klaus shifts uncomfortably. "Now, what kind of desert would you like?"

\-------------

"That guy."

"Hmm, no. He looks drunk."

"Caroline," Katherine says in exasperation. "This. Is. A. Bar. Everyone. Literally everyone is drunk."

"It's not my fault I have high standards." Caroline sniffs, swirling her untouched vodka cranberry.

Katherine just rolls her eyes at Caroline and keeps looking. "Okay, how about that guy over there."

"Kat, you know I don't do blonde guys anymore."

"Why no- ohhh, never mind." Katherine pauses as she scans the room again before throwing her hands up in disgust. "This is no fun. I thought we were supposed to go out at paint the town red or whatever. This is just… boring. Why won't you just pick a guy and have fun?"

"Wow there, Kat. I'm not really looking for a relationship right now."

"Oh, yeah, right. Tyler." Katherine says his name like a dirty word. "Ugh. I can't believe that you still can't see what's going on."

"We're complicated," Caroline narrows her eyes at Katherine. "It's not exactly a relationship."

"What's so complicated about you?" Caroline looks down and flushes red a little. "Oh god," Katherine exclaims as she grabs Caroline's arm, "You're TOTALLY friends with benefits, aren't you?" Katherine shakes her head at Caroline. "I never thought you had it in you. I always thought you were too uptight for that. Ah, I never thought I'd see the day when Caroline Forbes finally did something that wasn't perfect."

"No! Stop! It's not a good thing. I mean… I wasn't going to do it, but," Caroline starts biting her fingernails. "He was so nice, and as part of the deal, he told me that I might get to attend his family's events with him, and pretend like we're a couple to his family."

Katherine's face falls. "Caroline," she drawls uncertainly, "That sounds a lot like you're acting like his beard."

"Seriously? Can you stop? Gosh, you can't let that go, can you?" Caroline slams her glass on the table as she huffs in frustration. "Tyler isn't gay!"

"Whatever." Katherine leans back and looks around the bar again. "But this means that you're technically in an open relationship, right? And that means you can still go talk to some men." Katherine winks at a guy across the bar and turns to Caroline expectantly.

Caroline sighs and begins with the air of someone that has had to repeat herself a lot. "Well, like I said, I'm not really looking for a relationship right now, and-"

"Who said that you have to get into a relationship with one of these guys?" Katherine interrupts impatiently. "I thought you knew the whole point if tonight was to find some guy and get fucked, no attachments, just sex."

Caroline rolls her eyes. Katherine has a weird idea of fun. Maybe Caroline liked partying a little when she was in college, but now that she was older, she just wants to go home and watch TV. It would be nice to be in a long-term relationship, but Caroline doesn't want to put in the effort she knows it requires.

"Speaking of which, when was the last time you had a relationship?" Caroline asks Katherine, who chokes on her drink.

"Um, we weren't speaking of it. But it was last week with that guy standing by the door." Katherine gestures to a guy that kind of looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. "He was really bad. I don't recommend him. Guys that hold their arms like they're trying to be macho always suck in bed."

"I meant, like, a long-term relationship." Caroline ponders this, before shaking her finger at Katherine. "Last one I remember was sophomore year, right before you went to study abroad in London."

Katherine immediately flinches when she hears the word London. She snatches her drink and downs it while avoiding the questioning glare of Caroline. "Yeah, I think that was the last one," she mutters, uncharacteristically meek and defensive.

"Why none since then? …Kat?" Katherine refuses to respond to Caroline in any way. "Oh Kat," Caroline slaps herself in the face. "God, how did I not notice anything different? I'm a crap friend. Did something happen in London?" Caroline fixes her kind but questioning gaze on Katherine.

"NOTHING, nothing at all, happened in London, okay? I just… all relationships are doomed to end. Something always pulls you apart." Katherine looks off into the distance before suddenly turning to Caroline with a defiant look in her eyes. "I don't get into relationships because they're stupid, shallow wastes of time that are for idiots who think they're actually gonna find someone who's their true love." Katherine spurts. "I've accepted that, and now I'm free to have fun whenever I want. I'm fine." Katherine's voice breaks on the last word.

"Hi… angel… did it hurt… when fell… angel?" Caroline and Katherine both turn towards a drunken man who has stumbled over to their table. He scratches his head. That's the pick up line, right?

Katherine grabs Caroline's drink and downs it before switching on her flirty smile and batting her eyelashes at the intruder. She laughs, she touches, and she leans in. Caroline feels like she's watching a well-choreographed mating ritual with only one possible conclusion.

"I'm going to leave," Caroline says to no one in particular as she stands up from the table, feeling like she's going to barf. She grabs Katherine and whispers in her ear. "Not our place, okay?"

Katherine nods and goes back to ignoring Caroline as she wraps her jacket around her and walks across the bar. "Excuse me," a deliciously accented voice calls out as Caroline looks around to see if she is the one being called. "Yeah, you," A very handsome, well-muscled man comes over to Caroline and sticks out his hand. "Galen Vaughn," He says while Caroline shakes his hand. "I'm sorry, I just saw you across the room, and I couldn't stay seated, I just had to introduce myself." He looks at her expectantly as Caroline's mouth is open in shock.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Caroline glances nervously at her shoes, before looking up and smiling at him. "I'm Caroline. I'm here with my friend, but-" Caroline looks around, searching for Katherine "-It looks like she already left. I should probably get going too."

"No, come on, stay. Join me for a pint," Galen smiles naturally and easily at her. Caroline could very easily follow him to the bar, get lost in his dreamy blue eyes, and have a great time. But, Caroline realizes, as she looks carefully at him in the dim light of the bar, he's a blonde and has a dangerous look in his eyes. That's a deal breaker. Besides, he's probably not looking for the same things that I am, Caroline thinks, better not to take the chance. "So, whaddya say?" He looks at her again, searching for a response.

"No, I'm really sorry, I – I just… I can't right now. But especially not right now, and not with you- not that you're not good – or bad, I don't know, but – there was a guy – but now there's not, but - I myself… I just can't." Caroline stutters as she tries to express her thoughts to Galen.

Galen looks a little taken aback, but understanding. "It's okay. Have a good night." Caroline nods and starts walking out to the street. "And Caroline?" Caroline looks back at him "I hope that guy gets what he deserves."

\------------

Caroline hears a knock at her office door and looks up as Klaus enters the room. "Go ahead, just let yourself in then," Caroline grumbles as she keeps shuffling papers around, trying to ignore Klaus.

Klaus takes a deep breath before beginning. "Um, excuse me, Dr. Forbes?"

"Oh, now you're trying to be polite to me?" Caroline frowns at him. Klaus trying to be polite is like trying to put perfume on a pig.

"I do apologize, Dr. Forbes, really. I don't know what came over me the other day. I'm sorry for insinuating you are not qualified to do your job and for insinuating that you should pursue… uh … other life paths." Klaus fiddles with his thumbs while avoiding eye contact. That was a good apology, right? He doesn't have that much experience with them. He's a man of conviction and he doesn't like having to excuse or justify his actions.

"Pssh… like those words really mean anything to you. I know you don't like me at all." Caroline crosses her arms skeptically.

Klaus steps forward and takes a seat without asking while Caroline raises an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose it's fairly obvious that I dislike you and that I disagree with pretty much every point that your paper brings up." Klaus gives a self-satisfied smirk as he reclines in the chair. "That being said, I felt that some of the personal attacks I made on your character were over the line and I wanted you to know that I don't actually believe all of the things I said to you. I overstepped the line of professionalism when I attacked your character, and this is me rectifying that while still making it very clear that I dislike you. With all due respect, of course."

What a cock-sure, arrogant, motherfucker, asshole, Caroline continues to curse him out in her mind. Two can play at this passive-aggressive game of hiding behind professionalism, she thinks, wanting to rub that smug smirk off his face. She plasters a big, syrupy smile on her face and leans forward with her hands clasped together. "Thank you for that truly moving and inspiring apology." Her voice is oozing with sarcasm. "I'm glad to know that you are not a misogynistic asshole, but just an asshole. That makes a gigantic difference in my opinion of you."

"Glad to be of service, love," Klaus retorts in the same tone.

"Thank you ever so much. Now, let's get a couple things straight. I don't like you very much either, but I am willing to retract my previous personal attacks for the sake of professionalism." Caroline says deliberately with faux politeness. "I wouldn't very much like to work with you either, but, for the sake of professionalism, I guess we do have to maintain some sort of working agreement."

"Fine," Klaus sneers. "Meet me in my office after your last class. We're going to have a lot of work to do."

He gets up and slams the door shut with a little more force than necessary. As he's walking the halls, he idly wonders why he and Dr. Forbes always end up fighting each other. It's a curious phenomenon, he thinks to himself, before he pushes the thought of his angry colleague from his mind.

\------------

"Hey!" Caroline throws her bags to the ground before plopping into her seat. "I've only got a few minutes before I have to go back and help my grad students with their research. They're so helpless without-" Tyler, Caroline's aforementioned 'Friends with Benefits', interrupts her with a kiss. "Tyler!" She exclaims, surprised. That was the first even remotely spontaneous thing that Tyler has ever done with her.

"Sorry." Tyler, tall, dark and well-muscled, grins earnestly at her. He's come a long way from the entitled frat boy of his college years mentally, if not physically. When Caroline had first moved back to New York a couple weeks ago, Tyler had been one of the first people to greet her. One thing led to another, and Caroline isn't exactly sure how it happened, all she knows is that she and Tyler made an agreement to see each other every week.

"It's alright. It's just been so crazy lately, sorry I haven't been able to see you." Caroline nods as the waiter brings her a glass of water.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Tyler says. "I'll make this quick." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of heavy stationary and hands it to Caroline. Caroline glances over the paper twice before finally understanding it and looking up to Tyler, shocked.

"Is this…?" Caroline inquires, letting the unspoken question hang in the air.

"Yup!" Tyler looks like he might bounce out of his chair with happiness. "It's my mother's annual Fall Ball, and she- I mean, I, want to bring you as my guest of honor… So, will you come?" Tyler looks at her expectantly.

"I'll… I'll need to go shopping…" Caroline stutters before grinning in excitement. "Tyler, thank you so much. I'd love to come. I can't believe that I'm going to a ball… You know, I always wanted to be a princess, and I guess this is the universe's way of finally making that wish come true, if kinda in a roundabout way." Caroline suddenly gasps. "Oh My God, will Beyonce be there?"

Tyler laughs as he takes in Caroline's expression of ridiculous excitement. "I don't know yet, but everyone who's anyone in New York is coming." He takes Caroline's hand. "Really, this means a lot to me that you would go with me."

Caroline smiles at Tyler. "What are friends for?" Tyler has been such a good friend to her over the years. They look at each other for a couple moments, just smiling into that comfortable silence that good friends slip into. "Oh!" Caroline exclaims suddenly as her phone beeps. "I've gotta go! Text me later with the details!"

"Will do," Says Tyler, as he stares off into the distance, thinking deeply to himself.

\---------

"Hello?"

"Stefan! Did I catch you at a good time? I know it's like six hours ahead there, and I just needed to hear your voice." Caroline twirls the phone cord around her finger as she glances up at the clock. She's been feeling a little out of touch lately, and talking to Stefan always makes her feel better. That's why she's taking a bit of time before her last class to call one of her best friends. It's mental self-help. She can take a little office time for that.

"Caroline! Hey, how are you?… Hold on." Caroline hears a door shut over the line. "Alright, yeah no, it's a good time. How's the new job?"

"Yeah, no, the new job is amazing! It's a little weird being back in NYC after all this time. There's this one asshole that I work with that just drives me cra- wait, never mind about me. What's new with you?" Caroline loves hearing about Stefan's life abroad in London. He always has the craziest stories, half of them Caroline doesn't even believe.

"I have some pretty big news… hey, are you coming to our Thanksgiving party?"

"Yeah, um, about that… I can't go, I have a work thing."

"Caroline… I know you don't have a work thing on Thanksgiving," Stefan chides her gently.

"Okay fine! I don't really want to go because of… reasons." Stefan laughs. "What's so funny?"

"Come on Caroline, you know I'm only kidding. Well, not really."

"Ugh, seriously?" Caroline sighs.

"Fine. If you're not coming because of reasons, not even to talk to me, I might as well tell you my surprise news. Can you keep your famously big mouth shut?"

"Stefan, come on, when have I EVER told one of your secrets? Wait… don't answer that." They both chuckle for a moment. Caroline is notorious for letting things slip. Her friends don't even let her in on surprise party plans anymore because she has ruined it one too many times.

"Well," Stefan pauses, "I'M ENGAGED!"

Caroline's mouth pops open. "You! Engaged! What? I… that's AMAZING! Congratulations! Wait, how did you not tell me about this earlier? Who's the lucky lady? How long were you dating for? And when's the wedding? I hope it's not too soon because I would have to lose some weight to fit in my dress and get you a nice engagement gift and I'll be helping to plan the wedding right? Good, because things would totally go wrong without me in-"

"Wow there, Caroline," Stefan cuts off her rambling. "Slow down. Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to hammer out the details. We're thinking this May in New York. She has family there too, so it's the best option for all of us. Actually," Stefan adds thoughtfully, "They're going to be joining us at Thanksgiving. Too bad you won't get to meet her. She's amazing."

"What's the name of this lady that has finally tamed the famous hair of Stefan Salvatore?" Caroline smiles a little sadly. She can't explain it, but this news makes her a little sad somehow. It kind of feels like everyone is coupling off, and she's just left all alone.

"Her name is Rebekah." Coming out of his mouth, Rebekah sounds like a bright flower dancing in a beautiful sun-drenched meadow next to a cool pond. I wonder if I'll find someone who says my name like that, Caroline can't help but thinking. Stop! It's about Stefan now, not you and your pathetic love life.

"I'm really happy for you." Caroline glances up at the clock again and lets out a startled grunt. "Hey, sorry Stefan, I've gotta go now, but I'll see you at the party."

"Wait, you're coming now?" Stefan tries to hide the excitement in his voice.

"Hell yeah! I wouldn't miss seeing you and your fiancée for anything!" Caroline nods, resolving to be there for Stefan. She might need to be there to control Kat when Stefan announces he's engaged. Stefan was Katherine's last long-term relationship, and based on how Katherine is now, Caroline has a sneaking suspicion that it didn't end well when they went to study abroad in London together.

"Bye then, sweet Caroline," Stefan says in a sing-song voice.

Caroline just lets out a disgruntled huff and hangs up. She acts like she hates it when Stefan calls her that. It's been a running joke for years now, but Caroline secretly likes it. Still, her conversation with Stefan has left her feeling like the gum you scrape of the bottom of your shoe. Yes, she wants a love like that so badly, but she knows it's more likely than not that she'll never find it.


	4. Bound by the Laws of Societal Convention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Klaus and Caroline bickering. They're getting there slowly. Very slowly.

"Late," Klaus spits without even looking up from his newspaper to greet the person entering the room. He doesn't need to; he already recognizes the distinctive annoying clomping of her high heels.

"No, I'm not…" Caroline mumbles angrily as she glances at her watch. "It's only two minutes," She huffs indignantly.

Klaus pretends to ignore her. He lazily flips the page of his newspaper, not even bothering to look up at her. As far as he is concerned, this meeting and the whole idea of them working together is completely ridiculous and a waste of his time. He doesn't really need the recognition from the department for this research project; he's already got tenure and a career that's poised to be spectacular. Although he thinks that the project and therefore his time with Caroline is wasted, if he's being perfectly honest with himself, despite all their bickering, Klaus actually doesn't dislike Caroline. It's just something about her professional viewpoints that strikes him as incredibly naïve, even though Klaus doesn't realize that he himself is incredibly jaded in his opinions on human nature.

"Look," Caroline begins. "I know that you don't like me, and somehow, we always end up fighting, but I think we should at least try to get some idea for the moment." There's a slight twinge of sadness to her voice that Klaus immediately picks up on.

"Did something happen?" He finds the words coming out of his mouth before he can stop himself. "Excuse me, sorry, that was unprofessional."

"Yeah, it was…" Caroline trails off. Was that a note of concern in his voice?

There's a moment of silence where both Caroline and Klaus are wrestling with their thoughts. "So," Klaus finally manages, "What ideas do you have in mind?" Caroline visibly brightens as she starts rambling about how she had certain ideas for studying the linguistics of urban communities. Klaus internally rolls his eyes. Normally he considers himself to be above such ventures into cultural or linguistic anthropology, and there is no way research like this is going to win them any awards, and frankly, he doesn't have the patience for this stupid project. It's time for him to back Caroline away from this cliff.

"Alright," He cuts her off in the middle of a particularly impassioned remark about code switching from urban to mainstream American English. "This is a topic that merits research, but there are several logistical inconsistencies. First and foremost, some preliminary research has already been done on this topic, and it never got any recognition. I know because it was my friends phD thesis topic. And secondly, everyone knows that promoting linguistic inferiority is just a tool that societies use to keep the poor as immobile as possible."

"Not… necessarily," Caroline stutters back at him as he watches her flip her hair over her shoulder. "And why would studying them be harmful? Shedding light on this sensitive topic could promote greater linguistic acceptance and understanding. Educating the public empowers them to learn and become more tolerant and understanding."

"Really?" Klaus smirks. "Are you that naïve where you think that this research could change anything?"

He watches Caroline mouth pop open as her face becomes as red as a tomato. "You…. You think this is funny, don't you? That people are just evil beings without any compassion or concern for others? God, I-" Caroline stops short and looks at him with an eerily calm expression on her face. "Why?"

"Pardon?" Klaus says, who up until now has been guiltily enjoying watching her explode.

"Why do you think the way you do? I mean, what happened to you where you believe that everyone in the world is out to get you?" Caroline says, shifting in her chair to get a better look at him. "We're not all like that, you know. Some of us still have our humanity."

Klaus lets out a bark of laughter. "Humanity? Is that what you call it?" He lets out another hoarse grunt. "Oh, the humanity of it all. Humans, so vain, that we named a word for kindness and selflessness after ourselves. Come now Caroline, how can you believe in that farce? The true legacy of humanity is war, sex, disease, and destruction. Humans are evil beasts that pretend like they are otherwise." Klaus's voice suddenly gets low and dangerous. "Why do you think it was one person? All of you humans have made me expect nothing from you."

"You talk like you're not one of us," Caroline whispers, scared. Despite all her scientific training and schooling, she's always secretly suspected that there were supernatural creatures walking among them, and while she knows that it's ridiculous and this doesn't prove anything, still, it's scary.

"I'm a scientist," Klaus says as Caroline breathes a sigh of relief, and then internally slaps herself. She's gotten too ridiculous for her own good. "I distance myself from the rest of you, and take an objective perspective." He is personally proud of this ability to detach himself.

Caroline really looks at him. Shoulders up, fists clenched, and a defensive look in his eyes. He's protecting himself, Caroline realizes. "No." She says.

"What?" Klaus asks, sitting up with a startled look on his face.

"Just no. I don't believe you."

"What is there to believe or not believe? I just gave you valid reasons for why I think what I do." Klaus says indignantly.

"Nope," Caroline smacks her lips, popping the 'p'. "You did give me valid reasons, but both of us know deep down that you don't really believe them." Caroline starts gathering her papers and jamming them into her bag.

Klaus is starting to resemble a boiling pot. How dare she question him? She is just a young, idealist professor who knows nothing about how the world really works. The sound of rustling papers awakens him from his furious reverie. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, well, clearly, because I'm not as jaded as Chinese jewelry and I believe in people, somehow I'm soo naïve. Well, mister, you have another thing coming if you think I'm going to sit here and listen to a guy who so obviously isn't on the same page as me." She finishes jamming her stuff into her bag and grabs her coat.

Klaus is starting to realize maybe that giving her the full scope of his admittedly pessimistic view of humanity might have been a little too much. "Wait!" He says as Caroline is walking away. She turns back and cocks her head to the side, looking at him expectantly as he struggles to find the right words to say. He would never say sorry for believing as he does, but it seems like that's what Caroline is expecting.

After a few more seconds Caroline sighs. "Of course no apology," she mumbles to herself. "Klaus, I know this is stepping out of the bounds of professionalism, even though now that I think about it this conversation has kind of been too, but I have some personal advice for you. You've got to start trusting some people again. Not everyone is out to get you all the time." With that, Caroline turns and zigzags out of the classroom, leaving a disgruntled Klaus in her wake.

\----------

"Hey!"

"Watch where you're going!"

Klaus ignores the shouts as he crashes through the busy sidewalks of the city. Every time he steps on a newly fallen leaf he crunches it extra hard, imagining he's crushing skull and flesh. He's a hurricane of anger and hurt, catching everyone else in his winds and knocking them to the ground. The fact that he's late for his next class only worsens his mood. "Goddamn women," he curses Caroline and her idiotic sense of self-righteousness. How dare she make assumptions about him?

Klaus's internal tirade continues as he zig-zags angrily into his classroom. The scary thing is, deep down Klaus senses there's a hint of truth to what Caroline's said. But every time his brain tries to entertain the idea he imagines her face and a red haze falls over his eyes. Unprofessional, how dare she, he doesn't even, what does she know…

Klaus is too busy looking down and muttering to himself to realize that the attention of his students is elsewhere. He hears a loud thump and looks up to see one of his students standing on a table, appearing to be performing a magic trick.

"… and if you'll look at the box now you'll see that snuffles, Katie's pet rabbit extraordinaire, has disappeared!" Kavin, one of Klaus's brightest students, grins proudly and waves the box around wildly.

All of the students applaud and cheer, wondering to themselves how Kavin did it. Klaus himself is disconcerted by this random magic show taking place in what he thought was supposed to be his advanced Anthropology class.

"I'm confused-" Klaus begins, ready to take out his anger on this unsuspecting bunch of insubordinate students.

"Ugh, Professor M, obviously he stuffed the rabbit in his jacket pocket," Radhika, who is Klaus's favorite undergrad research assistant, completely misses Klaus's intentions as she cuts him off.

"Hey!" Kavin exclaims.

"Everyone saw," Radhika shrugs as she looks back at him.

"I didn't-" "-I did it was obvious-" "-why does he-" "-stupid trick-" The class descends into a babble of discussion as Klaus stews in disbelief. "Wow, professor M looks insane right now," someone says and everyone turns to stare at Klaus.

"How dare you," Klaus is seething. "A magic show? During this class? You make a mockery of this subject, this school, and most importantly, ME!" Klaus shouts as it suddenly becomes dead silent.

"But professor, we thought that you'd be-"

"SILENCE!" Klaus roars, not wanting to hear it. In truth, he does love this group of students, and normally he'd go along with their ridiculous magic show, but not today. "Excellent… we now seem to be able to follow directions. As for right now, take out a piece of paper, its time for a pop quiz." Klaus grins evilly. These kids need to know that life isn't all magic shows, he thinks angrily.

\----------

It's a beautiful fall evening, the leaves are floating lazily to the ground, it smells like pumpkin spice lattes, and wads and wads of pink tulle and fabric are suffocating Katherine. "Caroline?" she tries, muffled by the weight of the fabric on top of her.

Caroline looks over to the massive pile of dresses on the chair in the dressing room. Was that … a voice? She glances around, looking for Katherine to deal with this problem. Not seeing her, she goes over and pokes the pile sharply.

"GARHHHHHH!" The pile screeches as it starts to rustle. "AHHHHHHHH HELP GHOSTS, I NEED A HUNTER!" Caroline starts frantically shouting, looking around for a stiletto to hurl at this shadowy foe.

"Caroline!" Katherine emerges from the stack, with her hand on her hip. "It's just me. I got buried in that pile half an hour ago. You didn't even notice?"

"Of…course… I noticed," Caroline says self-consciously, before brightening. "What do you think of this dress?" Caroline twirls in a navy blue floor length number.

"Ew, take that off right now, shoulder pads are never a good idea." Katherine picks her nails and sighs. Caroline is always the worst at shopping for dresses because she's so indecisive.

"Really?" Caroline mutters as she takes it off and reaches for another dress to try on, but there's none left. "Great... nothing at this store either. Kat, we've spent 10 hours, and the ball is next week! If I haven't found anything now why should I even go?"

"Oh, honey, you're going to this ball to live out our princess fantasies," Kat smiles as gently as she can at Caroline, but it still comes off like a sneer. Katherine frowns thoughtfully before reaching down into the discarded pile of clothing and pulling out a shimmery green dress. "Here, this one was sitting on top of me for a while, and it looks like it could not be totally awful."

Caroline rolls her eyes and wordlessly puts on the dress. As soon as she does, she knows that Katherine was right. The dress hugs her in all the right places, and Katherine's quiet "damn," is enough for her to know that this is her dress.

"Wow, Tyler might actually turn straight for you in that dress."

Caroline spins around suddenly and snaps at Katherine. "You know, all these constant gay comments is really annoying me. So what if he's gay? I'm going to this ball because he asked me to, as a friend. He has lunch with me, as a friend. So I don't get why you have to constantly point it out to me when it doesn't matter at all."

"Oh, sorry, just looking out for my friend here," Katherine matches Caroline's hostility. "Because I know you Caroline. And you'd be lying if you didn't say that there was a part of you deep down that is hoping that this can continue into an actually relationship, a part of you that you're repressing because you think you'll never love again after Matt. And there's no way in hell that that's EVER happening with him, so yeah, I'll keep reminding you that he's gay, so you don't get your hopes up and then your heart broken, AGAIN." Katherine claps her hand over her mouth as soon as she's finished. She's said too much, and she knows it, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Caroline starts to feel the tears well up in her eyes. She can't believe that Katherine brought up Matt. "Just because I trust some people it doesn't make me weak. And that not trusting people thing, how's that working out for you? That's why you don't ever get in relationships anymore. Because you don't trust anyone not to break your heart again," Caroline accuses, and then looks at Katherine sadly, tears forming in her eyes. "Look, I don't know what happened with you and Stefan that year in London other than you guys broke up, but I want you to know that its okay to start trusting people again. Not everyone is out to screw you over, maybe, just maybe, they just want to get to know you."

Katherine glares at Caroline for a couple seconds before dissolving into semi- hysterical laughter. "Did you just quote a Marina and the Diamonds song at me?"

Caroline shifts as she wipes some of her tears. "Maybe…"

"Oh god, Caroline, this is why I love you." Katherine suddenly snaps back into a serious tone. "But what happened in London has nothing to do with anything. That's a part of my life that's over and done with, and right now I'll fuck as many guys as I want because I want to, not because I have trust issues... And I don't think you're weak, but I remember the last time, and you shouldn't have to get hurt like that again."

"Ughh… Thanks for looking out for me. I'm sorry I got all self-righteous… I guess I've been doing that a lot lately," Caroline flops on the chair as she her mind goes to her confrontation with Klaus the other day. "I still wish you would tell me what happened, but… I'm still gonna be here for you no matter what Kat."

"Okay, yah whatever, bitch," Katherine sinks down into the chair next to her and is silent for a couple of moments. "You owe me big time for almost letting me suffocate under that giant pile of dresses…"

Caroline giggles as they both slump in exhaustion. " I can't believe that I started screaming about ghosts. What was I thinking? We need to stop watching too much Supernatural."

Katherine groans in agony. "But... they're so damn hot!"

They collapse in a puddle of giggle as the long day of shopping finally catches up with them. Caroline still isn't happy with Katherine's refusal to tell her what's going on, but Caroline knows that pushing her won't do any good. Katherine is as stubborn as a mule in all aspects of her life.

\----------

For the first time in his life, Klaus is at a loss of what to do. Not even torturing his students, which normally makes him feel better, has any diminishing affect on his confusing feelings. He's not really sure what he's feeling at the moment, but he blames any weird feelings on his anger at Stefan Salvatore for getting close to his baby sister. Despite this logic, there's still a little voice that suggests that his angst might have to do with a certain blonde professor. Klaus, of course, mentally strangles this voice. Elijah notices that something is troubling Klaus, but doesn't mention it. Finally, Elijah thinks, it seems like his pigheaded brother has met his match in Caroline.

Caroline passes the week before the ball in haze. Between ignoring Klaus and keeping up with her students and her research, it's hard to keep her life organized. Every time she passes by Klaus they alternate between stoic silence and burning glares. After last time, Caroline just doesn't know what to do anymore with him. Their relationship has become a weird mixture of personal and professional that's created this weird dynamic of something that Caroline isn't sure of. The only thing she's sure of is that she feels such strong animosity towards him sometimes that her stomach burns.

Still, Caroline is hungry for information about Klaus, and she has a perfect source of information in Anna, that funky student that for some reason keeps coming to her to discuss her project, even though Klaus is her professor. Not that Caroline really minds. For some reason, Anna reminds her of the little sister that she never had, and the more and more time they spend together, the less they talk about Anna's project and the more time they spend talking about TV shows and random gossip.

"So, that advice I gave you a while ago, how's that working out for you?" Caroline smiles to herself as she leans back in her chair and puts her feet up on her desk. This is the 4th time Anna has met with her, and Caroline feels pretty comfortable being informal.

Anna follows suit, and gives Caroline a sly grin. "What? Advice for me?" She adopts a face of mock surprise and puts a hand to her chest. "I am appalled, Dr. Forbes. That was a hypothetical situation, I am scandalized that you would ever mistrust my word like that."

Caroline snorts. "Okay Miss Sarcasm. And you don't have to keep calling my Dr. Forbes. That makes me feel like someone's mom. Call me Caroline."

"Sure thing, Dr. Caroline," Anna grins as Caroline sighs and covers her eyes with her hands. "Wow, you're so much cooler than Dr. Merloup. I wish you were my teacher."

"Oh, Klaus," Caroline says, trying to hide her suddenly heightened interest. "How is Dr. Merloup these days?"

"You know, it's been really weird. He's suddenly got really grouchy and he's given us, like a ton of pop quizzes, and is being really strict." Caroline winces. She hopes that his abuse of his students isn't directly related to what she said to him earlier in the week. "Wait, shouldn't you know? Didn't you tell me that you were his research partner?"

"Um, yeah…" Caroline says sadly. "But… I shouldn't tell you this… we're not exactly… getting along. Which is really frustrating because I totally need this research grant and like and I need to prove to people that I'm not just some dumb blonde and he's just so frustrating and infuriating I have no idea why Elijah – I mean Dr. Mikaelson – put us together and he thinks all my ideas are nonsense and says my views on human nature are wrong and ughhhh –" Caroline stops short and covers her mouth. "Oh god, I was rambling, wasn't I? Sorry, I shouldn't have told you about all of that."

Anna looks thoughtfully at Caroline. "It's okay, I don't really mind. Why can't you just call a truce with him? Take him somewhere neutral and get to know him as a person. You don't actually have to like him, you just have to get him to connect with you on some level."

"That's actually… pretty good advice…" Caroline thinks to herself for a moment. It's true, she and Klaus have always been professionally combative. If she could reach him on a personal level, connect with him as a person outside of their differing opinions on their fields, then maybe they could find some common ground. Plus, as much as Caroline hated his arrogance, he was well-recognized in the field and publishing a paper with him would do wonders for her career, and maybe be enough to get a tenure.

That's what this stress is really about for Caroline. Like most newly hired professors, her position is very precarious. The University hires her for a couple of years, and if by the end of that time she's failed to produce any important research or gain recognition in her field, she'll lose her opportunity for tenure. Tenure at Columbia would guarantee her a nice job where she could keep exploring her research passions and interact with some of the brightest kids in the world. If she lost this opportunity, she would have to leave New York, the city that she loved more than anything else, and it would prove to everyone that doubted her that she wasn't as smart or talented and that her career in academia wasn't worth it.

"You know what, Anna? You're kind of right. If I want to work with him, I have to get him to be friends with me. Then he'll be bound by the laws of societal convention and he'll have to do things my way!" Caroline claps excitedly. That's her play. She's charming enough when she wants to be. She'll ignore his flaws, pretend to be his friend so she can further her career by publishing with him. She's never done this sort of manipulation before, which is normally reserved for Katherine, but how hard can it be? She'll cast off her morals for a bit and come up the winner in the end.

"Um…" Anna looks uncomfortable for a second. "That's not exactly what I meant, but…" Her face brightens visibly. "But if it's the way for you to stay here, I guess it's not that bad. Plus, its not like you're tricking him into a romantic relationship with you."

"No way! Klaus, in love at all Hah! It would be easier for a rock to fall in love than Klaus." Caroline laughs to herself. It's time to set this plan in motion.

\---------

Klaus is busy decorating a student's paper with red when he hears a knock at his door. He grumbles to himself. It's the end of his office hours and he isn't looking forward to another student's inane questions keeping him past his required time. "Come in," he sighs, preparing himself to explain why he couldn't give an A to a paper that seemed like it was written by an infant. Without even turning around he sighs, recognizing the rhythmic clicking of her heels, a sound that's becoming all too familiar.

He swings around in his chair, intrigued by her sudden appearance. After going a week without speaking, he must admit it's a little strange that she would barge into his office like this.

"Do you have any plans for the afternoon?" She asks him directly. Klaus shakes his head in confusion, wondering where this is coming from. "Good. We're going out." She leaves before Klaus can ask any questions as he hurriedly grabs his coat and struggles to catch up with Caroline's long strides. When he finally does, Caroline starts talking as if they are just normal friends who decided to take a stroll. "I love New York in the fall. It's not too hot, with a slight breeze, and there's a certain life to it that's just not there in the winter or the summer." Klaus watches as Caroline takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a second, letting the breeze pick up a couple of strands of hair off her face.

"Did you live in New York before you started teaching here?" Klaus asks, curious and unable to help himself.

"Actually, I did my undergrad here at Columbia, so this job is kind of like coming home for me." Caroline smiles serenely and looks back at Klaus. "But enough about me. How did you end up at Columbia? I mean, the accent, you're obviously British. I would've thought you'd have ended up at Oxford or Cambridge or something like that."

Klaus is immediately suspicious. There's no way she can know about him and Elijah being related, they've been too careful. She's probably just curious, he thinks, and harmless. "Would you believe it's because I love Americans?" He says with a carefully controlled smirk.

Caroline laughs at this. "Come on, nobody likes Americans, least of all Americans themselves."

"On the contrary, I find your culture so fascinating that I had to observe it first hand. For example, your collective love of fast-food and guns is morbidly interesting." Klaus continues, chuckling along with Caroline. "But really, why are Americans so interested in guns? There's no conceivable reason why everyone should have a deadly weapon."

"Careful," Caroline deadpans, "Someone might shoot you for saying that." Klaus laughs outright as they continue to walk. He's not really sure what brought this new, friendly behavior on, but he'll be damned if he's not enjoying it. She really does look extraordinary right now, with the sunlight bouncing off her hair like a halo. He's forgotten how beautiful she is, how his breath caught a little the first time he saw her, a goddess illuminating the dingy streets of New York. She really is gorgeous, he thinks absentmindedly as he looks at her profile and his eyes linger and her svelte form. If things had gone differently… well, let's just say they might have been another situation where she was screaming his name.

"Klaus?" Caroline asks, inclining her head expectantly.

"What? What was the question, love?" Klaus asks, shaking his head to clear his mind of his previous thoughts.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to grab a cup of coffee?" Caroline gestures to a little coffee shop.

"Why not?" Klaus breathes and moves to hold the door open for Caroline. Caroline looks at him with surprise. Who knew that Klaus was capable of being a gentleman?

After they get their coffee, they sit for a while in comfortable silence, looking out the window and listening to the hum of voices in the background. Klaus glances at Caroline. She looks kind of like she has something she wants to say to him, but after their previous encounters, he doesn't want to accidentally provoke a fight after everything has been so calm, so he remains quiet.

Caroline is pondering her next move. She set out on this mission to make Klaus think they were friends so they could finally get their research done, but Klaus has surprised her. He's actually kind of… normal? Now, she's wondering if she even has to pretend to be friends with him. But then she thinks back to all their arguments and all that she knows about Klaus's outlook on life, and what he's said to her. She could never be friends with this monster whom she hates, so she decides it's time to proceed with this part of the plan. Time to play nice.

"So," Caroline begins. "I know this is kiinnda out of the blue, but I really felt like we should talk."

"Alright," Klaus says, taking a sip of his coffee, still not entirely sure where this is going. He's starting to prepare for another argument, seeing as how that's how all of their conversations finish.

"I… I wanted to apologize for the way I acted… not just last time, but the time before that, and… ughh. And I guess this," Caroline waves her arms around her, "this whole thing is sort of a peace offering. Because," Caroline forces herself to go on, "You're not a bad guy, and I've been treating you awfully. And I think we should at least be friends if we're going to work on this together." She looks up at Klaus expectantly, trying to gauge if this is going to be enough to get him on her side. She keeps her expression of doe-eyed innocence and sincerity while calculating her next move.

Klaus, to say the least, is shocked. He was prepared for a fight, maybe even a stern reprimand, but not an apology and an olive branch. Truth be told, he doesn't mind Caroline at all, and becoming friends with her might open the door for other opportunities for him – he cuts his mind off before it can go too far. Not a bad guy? He does wonder how Caroline can think that. Even Klaus knows he is far from "Not a Bad Guy" status, but if that's what Caroline wants to think, he'll let her. But being friends with Caroline seems like a pleasant idea, and if he's friends with her and he actually spends time on that stupid project, he'll be able to spend more time with the blonde goddess.

Klaus grins wolfishly. "Friends, then," he says, "Alright, friend," he crosses his heart somewhat sarcastically, "I swear to be cordial. Now, what should we work on for this research project?"

Caroline internally jumps for joy. Hook, line and sinker he bought it, and now she's got him where she wants him. On the outside, she just gives a small smile as they launch into a small, productive discussion about what they could realistically research. She smiles, laughs at his little jokes, all the while secretly satisfied that she's now got him working for her.


	5. Saved by the Socialites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ball and a surprising revelation.

"Hmmm, the silver earrings or the gold ones? I think the silver ones go with my dress better." Caroline squints at her reflection.

Katherine's bored voice comes from the couch. "The silver ones," she drawls without looking up as she turns a page in the case file she's reading.

Caroline doesn't hear Katherine. "You're right, the gold might be better, it is a charity ball, for god's sake." Not just any ball, THE annual charity ball thrown by Carol Lockwood, who had already been a regular on the New York society circuit before she had married the famous republican senator Richard Lockwood right before he set out on the campaign trail for the first time. Out popped a baby, and in between being a doting mother to her son and throwing enough events to qualify for a phD in parties, Carol Lockwood became the most exclusive name in town.

Carol Lockwood's middle name is schmooze, or maybe it's champagne, Caroline isn't sure. What she does know is that Carol always seems to have a glass of it clutched in her bony fingers. Especially after a recent, nasty public divorce that she and her husband had gone through. However, Carol had maintained her composure with aplomb, and landed on her feet, still at the head of the social hierarchy in New York City. Tyler hasn't talked about it much, but Caroline has a feeling it's affecting him.

Caroline is interrupted from her hairspray and perfume fueled haze when her phone buzzes, informing her that Tyler is ready to pick her up, if she's ready to go. Finally, a real gentleman that understands that you can't rush a girl when she's getting ready, she smiles to herself. Most people don't understand that perfection takes time. For some odd reason she thinks of Klaus, who she can totally see gnashing his teeth and banging on her bathroom door, yelling at her to hurry up. But of course, that would never happen, she remembers, because she totally hates Klaus, and that she better hurry up and get going.

After nodding goodbye to Katherine and hurrying down, Caroline is surprised to see a man in a suit holding open the door to an elegant limo. "Tyler?" She asks as she slides into the cool, soft, leather interior.

"Yeah, sorry about the limo," Tyler grins sheepishly. "I knew that you probably didn't want a big fuss, but my mom kind of insisted that I had to arrive in style, you know how she is with-" Caroline interrupts Tyler with a giant hug.

"Tyler, I love it!" Caroline sinks back into the seat and grins. "What, you think just because I'm a nerdy professor I don't like a little style? You know," she pauses, "this is the first time I'm in a limo, and probably the first time I've gotten to wear a fancy ballgown. Oh," She smackes her forehead. "Prom. But that doesn't count."

"I know, but this isn't too much? She probably wants us to be photographed together, and I wasn't sure how you'd feel…" Tyler trails off nervously. Come to think of it, Caroline can see anxiety written in every line of his body. Caroline might be living one of her dreams tonight, but it looked like Tyler was more in one of his nightmares.

"Hey," Caroline grabs his hand and looks him in the eye. "Don't apologize. We're gonna get through this. We're going to get photographed and we'll look super hot. Then we're going to go around and talk to all the cool people at your mom's party and we're going to laugh at their jokes. Then we're gonna drink champagne and dance, and it will be fun, okay?" Tyler nods and appears to steel himself.

"Yeah, you're right. We're gonna do this." Tyler says as they pull up to the Lockwood mansion, light-bulbs already flashing as they approach the red carpet. "You ready?"

"Of course," Caroline says, but her response is lost in the roar of the paparazzi and the crowd as they exit onto the red carpet.

Caroline wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it sure wasn't this. In her head, she had imagined a ball along the lines of the one in Cinderella, albeit she wasn't going to leave a shoe behind because shoes as beautiful as the ones that she's wearing are crazy expensive. The ballroom inside doesn't resemble this antiquanted vision; it exceeds it in every way possible. The architecture is old, classic New York, every detail and stone carving looking like it could belong in a museum. This ballroom has seen real princesses, not the antiquainted disney version, but real princesses, from every generation of American Royalty. As well as a couple of real international princesses, but Caroline can't escape the weighty feeling of history pressing on her from the walls.

Plus, Caroline is so starstruck that she doesn't even notice Tyler telling her he's going to get them some champagne. To borrow an expression from her mother, you couldn't swing a dead cat in here without hitting a celebrity or another important person. She recognizes David Beckham sharing a laugh with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Zuckerberg chilling with Jay-Z, and what looks like the President himself talking with Carol Lockwood while surrounded by secret service agents. It's giving Caroline whiplash seeing people from different contexts all here, interacting with each other like they're not some of the most famous people in the world.

"All alone, miss? Would you like a dance?" Caroline snaps out of her haze to look at the man in front of her, offering up his hand. He's well dressed, sure, like everyone else at the ball, and moderately attractive. She can't place his accent, something european, maybe. She's sure he's someone important if he's even been invited to this party, but Caroline just doesn't know who he is.

"Um, no thank you, uh… sir," she replies hesitantly. "My date's just…" Caroline looks around for Tyler. "He was right here a second ago…"

"His mistake, leaving such a beautiful girl as yourself alone. Come." The last word isn't so much a request as a demand, and Caroline acquiesces.

To Caroline's surprise, this mystery man is an amazing dancer. She can tell as he waltzes that he's had formal training. All at once, Caroline is struck by how much of an outsider she is at this party. Compared to everyone else, she's a nobody. Heck, her only past brush with royalty was when she won the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, the poor excuse for a pageant that her small town had put on year after year. Suddenly, she feels like a big phony, standing here in a dress bought with someone else's money and some guy who only asked her to dance because she was pretty, not because he cared at all about her brain.

"So," the man asks as they sway to the smooth rhythms of the waltz, "A beautiful girl like you has to have a name."

"Yes," Caroline says, "Beautiful girls do have to have a name. Most people have to, too." Caroline's lost her earlier party mood and doesn't want to play this game tonight. Or, not ever, she thinks.

"Cheeky," the man smiles, taking her response as an invitation instead of a shutdown. "Has anyone ever told you that your face is more beautiful than the moon, my beauty? And that your hair is like the golden sun spilling down the mountain stream?" Caroline starts to feel the man's hand sliding downwards. "And your body, your curves-" Caroline pushes him away.

"Excuse me?" She spits, now incensed. How impolite, how rude, she thinks as her cheeks get hot. Who does that? And at a ball for charity? She's about to give this leech a piece of her mind when she feels a cool hand on her back.

"Easy, love," a familiar british accent drifts past her ears. "You're making a scene." Caroline doesn't even have time to be surprised that he is here and is about to snap at him to leave her alone, but she notices that a bit of a crowd has gathered around her and her would-be harrasser. She nods and takes his arm as they walk off . The man huffs and rubs his chin as the crowd breaks off and starts milling around again

As soon as they're alone, Caroline turns to glare at Klaus. "I could've handled that on my own, thank you very much. Plus, why are you even here?" Caroline is fuming. "Oh, don't tell me, you're in line for the throne or something. Ugh."

Klaus laughs. He's never really noticed before how ridiculous she is when she's angry. Probably because he was too busy being offended. "Sweetheart, that's the Prince of Monaco. If you had even raised your hand to slap him like you were planning, about 20 guards would have tackled you." Klaus nods to men with earpieces surveying the dance floor cautiously. "Would've put a bit of a damper on the occasion, really."

"How did you know I was planning on slapping him?" Caroline asks, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, let's just say I know that look in a women's eye." Klaus chuckles again, as he plucks two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter's tray and hands one to Caroline.

Caroline looks down at the champagne, which reminds her that she hasn't seen Tyler for some time. She starts looking around, trying to figure out where he went.

"Looking for Mr. Lockwood?" Klaus notices Caroline's roving glances.

"Yeah, um, how did you… ?" Caroline turns to look accusingly at Klaus. "You never told me what you were doing here. And how long where you standing in the shadows watching me dance."

"I was invited," Klaus says as he sips his champagne. "And I was lucky to turn and see you right before you caused an international incident by slapping the Prince of Monaco."

"Yeah, well he deserved it," Caroline mumbles while turning over her shoulder again to look for Tyler.

In truth, Klaus had been at the ball for quite some time. As a member of the distinguished Mikaelson family, he received countless invitations to many different society parties all over the world. He refused to go to most of them, reserving that right for wannabe-socialite Rebekah, who couldn't attend tonight because her fiance was caught up in 'very important work stuff', whatever that meant for Stefan Salvatore. Still, he wouldn't have even gone to the Lockwood ball tonight, if it wasn't for the insistence of Elijah. "It would be impolite," Elijah had said, and that was the final word on that matter.

When Klaus first heard the names Tyler Lockwood and Caroline Forbes announced, he had been confused. He knew Tyler was the son of Carol Lockwood, and he had actually been pretty well acquainted with Tyler at one point, but still. What magical quality did she possess that somehow granted her access to this exclusive event? But when he turned to look at her, he had to stop himself from gaping. She was a vision, in a beautiful green dress that somehow reminded him of his family's summer home in Ireland and the sunlight hitting the mist on those green mountains. The light seemed to gather around her and bunch together as she stepped. Klaus was reminded of the first time he had seen her.

She really was a beautiful women, which was something he had found hard to remember when they had clashed so violently. He felt a pang of some feeling when he noticed he wasn't the only man's head to turn at her arrival, but he quickly squashed it. He had no romantic interest in her whatsoever, he reminded himself. She was just his colleague, and an extremely annoying one at that.

He had decided to ignore her, and concentrate on what the man next to him was saying. It was probably best, he had decided, because all it took was one of his old acquaintances to call him Klaus Mikaelson for his whole job to be jeopardized.

Klaus's new last name, Merloup, had originally been adopted out of hatred and anger. At 22, as a University student Klaus Mikaelson wasn't exactly a golden boy, but he was pretty close. His childhood hadn't been amazing, with the distance of his cold patrician mother and his father's explosive temper, but he had still been proud to call himself a Mikaelson. But an accidental slip by his mother had revealed one of the family's darkest secrets, and from then on, Klaus had wanted to sever all ties with that name. It turns out, his father wasn't really his father. That fact had dug into Klaus like a jagged piece of glass every time he had looked upon his so called family.

Klaus had fallen off the rails for a while, enjoying the company of his then-friend Stefan "Ripper" Salvatore. It was a while before he had finally straightened out with the help of Elijah. Even though he would never admit it out loud, Klaus was grateful to Elijah for living up to his promise of "always and forever" even after Klaus had revealed what he had learned about his origins. Still, he refused to be associated with the name "Mikaelson", and had adopted the surname of Merloup for his professional career. For some reason he couldn't exactly explain, he had never legally changed his name, even though for all intents and purposes he was now Klaus Merloup.

Anyways, he didn't want his real name to be discovered by his colleagues, especially Caroline. He told Elijah it was because he didn't want anyone to be able to accuse his superior of nepotism, even though Elijah hadn't been the one to hire him and he did his best to avoid giving Klaus special favors. It didn't really make any logical sense, why he had lied to his brother, but he had felt that Elijah wouldn't have understood why it was so important that Klaus avoid any association with the Mikaelson name. Klaus didn't even really understand himself, so he had know idea how he could rationalize it to his brother.

"I've never been to a party like this one before," Caroline admits, drawing Klaus back from his reverie. Klaus watches as she looks around and frowns a little.

"It's not what you expected," he states.

"Yeah. I mean, everything looks the way I expected it to. The decorations, the fancy dresses, people dancing elegantly. But it's just not…" Caroline struggles to find the next words.

"It's not fun," Klaus smiles knowingly, sipping his glass of champagne. It's amusing to him to watch Caroline come to the same realization that come to him when he was 16, already tired of debutante parties.

Caroline is scandalized. She looks around nervously, hoping no one has overheard Klaus. "Not that it's not fun," she whispers, "I just don't really know what to do with myself."

Klaus chuckles. "No need to whisper, love. A party like this one is only supposed to be fun for people who's only wish in life is to be seen. For everyone else, it's more like a job, something you just have to do. You show up, get your picture taken, maybe make a generous donation to charity, and you find people you like and complain about the dreariness of it all."

Caroline doesn't know what possessed her to say what she did next. "Oh, so I'm one of the people you like enough to complain to?" Ergh, that didn't make sense, Caroline cringes. Also, did she just accidentally flirt with Klaus. What's with her today? First the fiasco with the prince, now this.

"Have you been to a lot of this things?" Caroline cuts in quickly before Klaus, who is momentarily struggling with his words, can form a reply to her last question. Even still, she's genuinely curious. She thinks she knows this man who she's argued with so violently, but his demeanor at this party shows how little she really knows about the mystery that is Klaus Merloup.

"Only about a million," Klaus admits. He secretly enjoys the slightly impressed expression that Caroline has on her face right now. But of course she would be impressed with something like that, somewhat shallow as she is, he reminds himself. Her next statement shatters this illusion.

"Wow… You've been to so many of these parties, you know how boring they are, and yet you still come to them. You must be incredibly optimistic. Just maybe," she attempts to imitate a british accent, "this next one won't be so bloody awful." Klaus, who has been looking down at his champagne, looks up at Caroline, ready to be angry, unsure of what's happening. But Caroline's eyes are alight with laughter, and Klaus can't help but genuinely chuckle.

"What a surprise, she makes jokes," Klaus says as Caroline raises her eyebrow. "I'm not exactly here by choice."

"Oh," Caroline says. She nods and looks up at Klaus curiously as he gazes thoughtfully out at the dance floor. "Who's choice was that?"

"My older brother's," he replies immediately and without thinking.

"You have a brother?" Caroline is shocked. She had him pegged as an only child, or maybe even an older brother. "Here, in New York, at this party?" Caroline's eyes open wide in excitement as the next thought pops into her head. "Can I meet him?" The idea of Klaus having siblings… intrigues her.

Klaus freezes up. Shit. He shouldn't have said that. He should've known that she would want to meet his brother, ebullient as she is. He's trying to think up a suitable excuse when the metallic drone of feedback comes on over the speakers.

"Um, hello?" The schmoozy voice of Carol Lockwood comes over the speakers and causes the crowd to fall silent. Saved by the Socialite, Klaus thinks to himself, ignoring Caroline's eager eyes as he turns to face the dais. Caroline sighs in disappointment, but then turns towards the dais as well. She sees Tyler standing next to his mother, looking visibly uncomfortable.

Caroline can immediately deduce what's happened. As soon as Tyler went over to say hello, his mom had probably forced him to talk to as many important people as possible. Caroline glances at her phone. Half an hour has passed since she started talking to Klaus. Seriously? I talked to Klaus for that long? "Huh," she mutters to herself.

"What was that?" Klaus leans his head towards her.

"Nothing. Shh, she's about to announce something."

"... and lastly, I would like to thank my wonderful son Tyler for all that he's done." Carol's voice grates on Caroline's nerves for some reason she can't explain. Although it might have something to do with the fact that whenever his mother mentions him Tyler seems to shrink into himself a bit. Just barely, but after knowing him for as long as she has, she knows that something's up. She resolves to find him and ask him as soon as his mom is finished with her presentation.

"We're very grateful to all of our generous donors," Carol pauses to nod at several big names, "and we are pleased to announce that we've surpassed our goal of 20 million dollars." A thunderclap of applause follows. Carol takes a moment to bask in the glow. Caroline begins to think that the attention is as necessary to Carol's well-being as sunlight is to all life on earth. Little does she know that Klaus is thinking something along the same lines.

"And without further ado, we'd like to announce the winners of the raffle. Please put your hands together for Jessica Sethi, Will Avish, Andrew Murray-Lorenzi, Ashley Heebner, Mitchell Schmidt, and Alice Cai, the proceeds from tonight's even will be donated to the charity of your choice." More applause follows.

"So," Carol continues, "A toast! Let's raise our glasses tonight for generosity, and that our gift may benefit the lives of another!" A chorus of cheers and applause follows this last announcement as glasses clink and Carol bows and leaves the dais, along with Tyler.

"So," Caroline turns back to Klaus. "Your brother."

"What about him?" Klaus responds as he tries to hide his nervousness.

Caroline will not be dissuaded. "Well, I would really love to meet him. Knowing you, I'm sure he's great." She smiles beatifically at him, sensing his discomfort. It's nice to see him squirm a little for once.

"Well, uh-"

"Hey! Caroline, sorry, uh I got caught up, you know my mother," Tyler is suddenly by Caroline's side. Just in time, Klaus unclenches his fists and lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He immediately tenses up again as he recognizes who has just interrupted him.

Klaus isn't the only one who's made the connection. Tyler squints as looks at Klaus. "Wait… What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like going to parties like this. Man, I never thought I would've seen Klaus Mik-"

"Just Klaus is fine," Klaus cuts him off, glancing surreptitiously to the side to make sure Caroline hasn't noticed anything. Tyler just glances at him for a second before they both start laughing as they embrace.

Caroline has the slightly awkward smile of a confused women plastered on her face. "Wait, Ty? What's going on here?"

"This here is Klaus! My main man. He was a senior when I was studying abroad at Oxford my sophomore year, remember that?" Tyler starts laughing hysterically, his arm still around Klaus. "Dude... remember that time... on the roof… with-"

"Yes, I do," Klaus says, decidedly less energetic than Tyler. The time he spent with Tyler was before he had found out the truth behind his family. And after all this time, he was a different man than the one who had reveled with Tyler. They had had a special bond, with their shared experiences of being the kids of aristocrats. But he had always felt like Tyler had admired him a little too much, been a little too eager to please him. He supposed that being older, Tyler had felt like he had to appease Klaus, but Klaus remembered that he had kind of enjoyed the power.

"So what have you been doing all this time? I remember going to some party in England with your family, but they said you weren't there…" Tyler trails off, a far off look in his eyes.

"Um, yes, I was, on holiday. I'm a professor now. Caroline here is actually one of my colleagues." Klaus gestures to Caroline, clearly uncomfortable with this situation.

"Yeah, Ty. Actually, me and Klaus have been working on a project together." Caroline nods subtly at Klaus. Tyler's questions are bothering Klaus for some reason, and as much as Caroline loves seeing Klaus uncomfortable, she doesn't want to ruin what has otherwise been a nice night. And besides, it's only fun when she's the one pressuring him.

But before anyone could respond, another voice interrupted them.

"Caroline?" A sweet and familiar voice sounds. "What are you doing here?"

Both of them turned to see none other than Elena and Damon Salvatore striding towards them.

"Oh my gosh, hey guys! How are you?" Caroline rushes over to give Elena a hug. "I haven't seen you guys in so long. What are you doing here?" Damon holds out his arms for a hug, but Caroline just raises her eyebrows.

"Aw, come on blondie, no hug for me?" Damon clutches his heart, pretending to be hurt. Elena doesn't even bat an eyelash at her Caroline and her husband's behavior. Every one of their friends knows that Damon and Caroline's relationship isn't exactly entirely friendly.

"Ew…" Caroline mutters before turning to Elena and regaining her earlier enthusiasm. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, the Times needed someone to cover this event for their social pages, and normally they would've assigned it to someone higher up, but Tyler here," Tyler looks down sheepishly, "pulled a couple strings for his lowly old college journalist friend, and here I am! Damon's just tagging along here, making my job more difficult." Elena shoots her husband a playful look. Caroline nods as she notices the notepad peeking out of Elena's purse.

"Tyler! Why didn't you tell me?" Caroline hasn't seen Elena since the whole incident with Matt and Bonnie. All of her friends had had to choose sides, and Elena had chosen Bonnie and Matt. Not that Caroline blamed her. Matt and Elena had grown up in the same small town, and Elena had always been closer with Bonnie anyways. And of course, Damon the creep had followed her, panting all the way. Still, Caroline did miss her and Damon sometimes… okay maybe not as much Damon, but still.

"Sorry," Tyler apologizes. "I kind of… forgot." But the way he says it makes Caroline think he knew, but just didn't tell her. Caroline is a little disappointed. She thought Tyler knew that she had no problem with anyone in their former friend group, but it makes her wonder. That doesn't seem like the only thing Tyler has been keeping from her.

"Oh, excuse me," Caroline suddenly remembers her manners. "Guys, this is Klaus Merloup, he's also a professor at Columbia. Klaus, this is…" Caroline trails off as she finally looks at Klaus, who has been silent during this entire exchange.

Klaus's entire body is tense, as he grips his champagne glass so hard his knuckles turn white. But that's not the worst of it. Klaus's eyes contain a fiery anger that Caroline hasn't ever seen before. And it looks like the object of his fury is… Elena? If Klaus was superman, Elena would be melting under his laser gaze at the moment.

Everyone waits, breath held, for Klaus to finally find his words. "You," His quiet voice contains enough venom to poison the entire population of New York. "Here to wreck someone else's life?" Klaus looks at Damon. "Good luck with this one, mate." Everyone winces as Klaus's glass crashes on the floor and splinters into a million pieces. Before anyone can react, Klaus is already angrily sauntering across the dance floor.

"Um, I'm sorry, he's not usually like that," Caroline apologizes to Elena and Damon, and moves to go after him. But Tyler grabs her arm.

"Let him go. I've seen him this angry before. It's best to let him cool off." Tyler says to Caroline as they watch Klaus disappear into the crowd.

Everyone turns to look at Elena, who has taken out her notebook and is writing something. "What?" Elena lifts her head up, noticing that everyone is staring at her.

"What did he mean, 'here to ruin someone else's life?'" Damon asks, somewhat wary. "Did you burn down someone's house or stab someone in the back? Because… That would totally be hot." Caroline sighs in disgust. Of course.

Elena flips her hair over her shoulders. "Honestly, I've never seen that guy before in my life. As far as ruining people's lives, I guess I've broken up with Matt and Stefan, but that's as far as I've come to hurting someone." Her eyes dart around, looking for a response. "Ever. I swear."

"I believe you, baby," Damon says quickly as he tucks a strand of hair behind Elena's ear. Damon leans in to whisper in her ear, maybe a little too loudly. "God, you're so good. Too good for me. I love you so much, when we get home, I'm going to rip that dress off of you and…"

Caroline and Tyler quickly move away as Damon's whispers get more and more explicit. "So," Tyler starts, "How are you-"

"Caroline!" Elena interrupts them as she extricates herself from Damon's reluctant arms. "I was going to ask how Kat was doing. I haven't called her in a couple days, but she sounded… weird. Is she doing okay? I mean, I know I'm her twin and all, but sometimes I feel like we're not always on the same wavelength."

Caroline can see pain and worry clawing at Elena behind her calm exterior. Elena the saint, caring to a fault, as usual. "Well," Caroline says, stepping closer to Elena and lowering her voice. "Now that you mention it, I'm a little worried too. She's always so tough and strong, but sometimes I think she might be using that to hide something else. I can feel something eating at her, but whenever I try to ask, she practically bites my head off."

"That's Katherine," Elena sighs. "Never needs anyone. Not even her sister." Elena and Caroline both stare at the floor, lost in the silence of their thoughts. "Hey," Elena says softly as she touches Caroline's arm. "If you find anything out, let me know what I can do to help."

"No problem," Caroline responds, knowing that if Katherine did happen to tell her anything, she would kill her if Caroline said anything to Elena. Katherine does love Elena, in her own way, and they do have a special connection, but Katherine doesn't like being the object of Elena's worry and care. "It's like I'm a baby to her. She's only 3 minutes older. I feel so icky," Katherine frequently complains..

"Elennnnaaaa," Damon interrupts their thoughts with his singsong, impatient voice.

"Shut up, jerk," Caroline quickly spits at him as a knee-jerk reaction, and despite herself smiles at the little dance he's doing to attract Elena's attention.

"I gotta go," Elena smiles apologetically as she turns to go. "Oh, and Caroline? It was really nice talking to you." Elena's last words practically knock Caroline over with their sincerity. She feels like someone's just punched her in the gut. For a moment, she can picture it, all her friends surrounding her like a giant warm hug, singing her happy birthday. And she misses it, and she wants it so bad she thinks she might explode. All their smiling faces swirl around her head. Tyler, Elena, Stefan, Katherine, Damon, Matt and Bonnie… Suddenly the happy thought collapses on itself as Caroline remembers the hurt and betrayal.

But it doesn't hurt as much as the last time she thought of it. When Caroline pictures their faces, it doesn't conjure up the same burning fire that has consumed her soul for so long. How strange, after trying so hard not to care anymore, that her pain is finally starting to subside.

\----------

Meanwhile, Klaus is once again a hurricane, category 5, tearing a path through the party and tossing aside party guests like errant trees. Soon enough, people start to move out of his way. He finally finds Elijah by almost bumping into him.

"Ah, brother, I was wondering where you had gone off to. Niklaus I would like you to meet-"

"Not now, Elijah," Klaus seethes, fists still clenched at his sides. "I need to speak with you. Privately." He spits, nodding tersely at Elijah's companion.

"Excuse me, and my brother," Elijah nods politely as they leave.

They're barely out of earshot when Klaus turns to Elijah and grips his shoulders fiercely, shaking him a little. "We need to leave. Now.".

"Niklaus, what is the reason for this madness? Please tell me what's got you so upset?" Elijah pushes Klaus's hands off of him and brushes his suit. Ugh, Klaus knows better than to touch his clothes. This is vintage armani, and Elijah will be damned if he doesn't get to show off his impeccable style and class for at least another two hours.

"Brother, please, trust me," Klaus says, "This once, we must leave. Now. I can't tell you why, only that we have to." Klaus can see Elijah's resolve starting to waver. Good. His obvious emotional state is having the desired effect on Elijah. "Always and Forever, 'lijah," Klaus pleads, knowing that his brother cannot refuse a plea accompanied by these words.

Elijah's expression softens. Elijah is one of the few people in the world that can recognize that when Klaus is this angry, it stems mostly from fear and hurt. "Of course, brother. We shall leave at once," Klaus nods gratefully as he herds Elijah out, glancing around to make sure that Elijah doesn't get a glimpse of that wretched, gold-digging wench. What was her name again? Kristen? Kaitlin? Oh, he remembers it now, with a burning anger. Katherine.

\----------

Tyler has just introduced her to the senator of New York… or was it Steven Spielberg? Caroline honestly can't remember at this point, all these old white men seem to be competing for the title of Guy With The Most Monotone Voice.

"Having fun yet?" Tyler grins.

"Of course," Caroline chirps, maybe a little too happily.

"Yeah, right," Tyler smirks. "This has got to be one of the most boring things ever. Actually, I felt a little bad when I saw how excited you were, but I didn't have the heart to tell you what these parties are actually like. A whole lot of talking to boring people." He takes a swig from his flask.

Caroline grabs it from him and takes a swallow. "That's not the only thing you didn't have the heart to tell me.'"

"Come on," Tyler exclaims, a tiny bit too loudly, startling an elderly couple nearby. "You can't seriously be mad at me for that. What was I supposed to think? That you guys would be sitting around a campfire and eating girl scout cookies? Please." Tyler snorts.

"I guess I'm not really mad at you, Ty. It just makes me wonder if there's something else you're not telling me. I always feel like there's something below the surface, that you want to tell me but you just can't." Caroline finally looks around at where Tyer is leading her. For some reason, they're going through a door into a small antechamber off the ballroom. "Where are we?"

"We're here to talk to my mom," Tyler says absently. But Caroline notices that he's now standing up straighter and he's unconsciously smoothed his pocket square.

"Tyler, dear!" Carol Lockwood literally waltzes into the room, bringing with her the smell of alcohol and fresh roses. "How are you, darling?" Carol doesn't wait for a response before continuing. "And Caroline dear," she pauses to air kiss Caroline's cheeks, "So glad you could make it." She claps her hands, and two security guards appear out of nowhere and place a briefcase on a small desk. "Let's begin." She says in a tone that makes it clear that Caroline doesn't have a choice in whether or not they're going to begin. Whatever they're 'beginning'.

Tyler and Caroline take a seat as Carol slides into a, well, the only way to describe it, a throne, really. "So, you and Tyler have been photographed a couple times, by the press, and my special staff." Carol takes a couple of photos out of the briefcase and slaps them on the desk in front of Caroline. There they are Walking. Now, they're getting Ice Cream. Lunch, Dinner, laughing together. It's all there. There hasn't been a single time where they've been together recently where they haven't been photographed. Caroline looks up. She never pegged Carol for the stalker type, but looks can be deceiving.

"Now, what we're thinking is that we release these to the press. A couple at a time, of course. You're a minor celebrity, being the governor's son and all, so the social columns should bite. And Caroline here is a moderately attractive, successful women with a job at a prestigious university. You should have no problem attracting some media buzz."

Moderately attractive?, Caroline thinks. That's the kind of language used to describe objects and models, of which she is neithe. "Um, excuse me? What's going on here?"

"Just listen, Caroline," Tyler says quietly, like he's dreading something coming up.

Carol continues likes she hasn't been interrupted. "Alright, so we have a couple high profile dates, at celebrity restaurants. Maybe a couple charity events. After 3 months have passed, we announce that you two are engaged, all set for a nice June wedding. Oh, remind me, Dean, to reserve the place now. And if there's no open places for a Central Park wedding, call Louise up and tell her that if she doesn't fit me in she can kiss her social life goodbye. You know the drill. Then, in September, we announce that you are pregnant, and you appear to everyone the perfect, happy, all-american family. Perfect for Tyler to run for a local senator position. After that, he'll be a New York senator of course, and if we play our cards right, we could be sitting next to the future president." Carol claps her hands excitedly, ignoring Caroline's expression of absolute befuddlement. "You have to stop teaching, of course, to take care of the kids. Honey, you'll just have to sign here, stating-"

"What. The. Hell." Caroline spits, standing up and knocking the chair out from under her. "Married? Pregnant? When did I ever agree to this?" Caroline looks around as Carol and Tyler just stare at her. "Is this what you've been keeping from me?" She turns to Tyler, enraged and incredulous.

"Honey, what are you on about? This is a political marriage. You sign the contract, you're guaranteed a high place in society and power for years to come. I thought Tyler talked to you about this." Carol smiles like everything is just fine.

"Oh, we did not talk about this," Caroline glares at Tyler, who has shrunk in his chair, still uncharacteristically silent. "But I have a feeling we're going to. You. Outside with me. Now." Caroline tries to pull Tyler out of the room.

"Anything you can say to Tyler you can say to me, honey. We're going to be family. All you have to do is sign the contract." Carol simpers at Caroline, nudging the contract closer. "There's a significant amount of compensation." She adds.

"I'm not signing that thing, no matter what you say. And we are NOT going to be family. I don't want to be a part of this sick twisted world of yours, and frankly," Caroline crosses her arm and glances down at the contract, "However much money you've promised, or could promise? You could never afford me." With that, Caroline stalks out of the room, and stumbles her way out the door of the building.

Tears start streaming down her face and she pulls off her earrings that she spent so much time picking out, time that seems wasted now. How could she think that for a second, that she could forget that she was living in a world that expected her to marry and pop out babies. Or one that required couples and marriage. Fuck love. Fuck finding someone right for you. Fuck cheating, lying bastards. Fuck men acting weird. Fuck all the lies. Fuck parents that don't care about you, or try to control your life. Fuck things just not working out. Fuck it all. She was done.

Caroline gives up trying to call a cab, and crashes to the curb, weeping, crying out all her frustration, all her pain. Not just from tonight, but it seems like from her entire month, maybe even from the past couple years.

"Caroline?" The question cuts through the uncannly quiet New York evening.

"No! Not you! You don't even get to talk to me, after what you pulled," Caroline covers her eyes and waves and accusing finger at the man. He just sighs and plops down next to her.

"I just don't get.. why?" Caroline mumbles after awhile. "Why, Ty? Why did you think I would be interested in this? Why do you have to do this? And why didn't you tell me?"

"That's a lot of questions," Tyler breathes. "I thought you knew. I mean, about me, and about what I want." Tyler turns to stare pleadingly into her eyes. "Please, Care. I need this. I want this." Tyler sounds unsure.

"But, why? Why do you want this, need this?" Caroline asks, wiping some of the tears from her eyes. Tyler sighs and hands her his handkerchief.

"I… I can't tell you… or anyone. But… trust me. Do this for me?" Tyler pleads, still holding onto some faint hope that Caroline will agree to this.

"If you're not going to tell me the real reason, or tell me anything at all I think we're done here." Caroline gets up as an available cab finally hurtles down the street. "And Ty, trust me. I really want to help you, because I care about you, and I want to work with you on whatever you're going through. But not like this. You can't ask me to sign my life away, and without even a good reason."

Caroline slams the door to the cab, leaving the ball in a much different state than she arrived. God, it already felt like so long ago, but it was only earlier that evening. A mere couple of hours. Amazing how things can change so much in such a short amount of time.


	6. Do NOT Say I Told You So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More revelations, and some characters start to take some long overdue actions.

Caroline doesn't know exactly what changed after that night, but the next couple of weeks she feels different. The colors and edges around her seem brighter, jarring almost, like she had put on a new pair of glasses and could finally see the sharp, defined edges of leaves or blades of grass. New York felt raw and crisp, like she's finally taken a giant bite of the big apple.

Tyler called her an average of 20 times a night, but she just let all his calls go to voicemail. He never left any, so Caroline figured that he must not really care after all. The calls had stopped about a week ago. And good riddance. Caroline has no desire to see his face or hear his voice anymore. When she had come home from the ball, Katherine had asked her what had happened, but Caroline had just said Tyler was an idiot and left it at that. Caroline wasn't ready to tell the story of what had happened. She was embarrassed to talk to Katherine, especially after Katherine had been the one who had warned her against getting too close to Tyler, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Dealing with Klaus has been… different. Every time Caroline has tried to mention his strange behavior at the ball, Klaus shuts her down. As much as Klaus actually does want to give Caroline an explanation, he knows he can't. He's learned from experience that whatever he says has a habit of making it back to exactly the wrong people. And he'd rather keep this bit of information to himself.

But every time Klaus has to crush the light of inquiry in Caroline's eyes, he can't help but feel guilty. There's a part of him that wants to explain why he can't tell her, because she does deserve to know why he lost his composure. But Klaus knows that keeping this secret is more important than preserving Caroline's feelings. Still, after the ball Klaus and Caroline are making progress. They've actually begun drafting a proposal, and doing preliminary inquiries. And it's not as painful as it once was. Sure, they still bicker over how to word a sentence or what samples they should be studying, but it's less of the intense, personal squabbling that it was before.

Somehow, Klaus and Caroline have become tentative friends. Klaus isn't really sure how he let it happen, but sometimes their discussions veer off into different, non-work related territory. Caroline surprises him with her shrewd, dry humor and he can't help but grinning and guffawing, before remembering that he has to maintain his stoic facade. But soon enough, he abandons any attempt to control his mirth and lets himself roar with laughter. For the first time, he knows what it feels like to have his sides hurt from uproarious laughter. He even makes a couple jokes himself, just to hear her laugh. Her laugh is delightful, a kind of uncontrollable collapse of giggles, an infectious sound that makes him want to laugh. With her, half the time he doesn't even know why he's laughing, but for the first time in a while, he doesn't care.

He doesn't notice anything different, but others in his life do. Elijah almost doesn't recognize Klaus when he walks into his office one morning. There's a new spring in his step and a certain confident smile on his face that Elijah can't remember having seen before. It seems his brother has finally found something joyful in his life, and he has a sneaking suspicion that "something" is a certain blonde. But Elijah hides his suspicions, knowing how stubborn Klaus is when it comes to admitting something.

Rebekah also picks up on the change in Klaus. She can hear over the phone the change in his voice. When she mentions the Thanksgiving party or her Stefan, Klaus doesn't sound half as mad as he used to. In fact, he doesn't even sound mad at all, just kind of resigned to it all. She might normally be worried about his mental state (she had never once used the word "easygoing" to describe Klaus, but he seems… happier, if such a thing as a happy Klaus could exist. But she's got plenty on her plate at the moment, planning the wedding and grilling Stefan about Thanksgiving so she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb (stupid American traditions). If there is something seriously wrong with Klaus, she feels confident that Elijah can deal with it.

But Caroline hasn't known Klaus enough to register such a change. Sure, he had been awful at first, and now he was much kinder, but she just assumes that was one of his personality quirks. Plenty of people were mean to people they just met, and only when you got closer to them was it revealed that they had been a total softie all along. So she doesn't put too much thought into their changed relationship; she's just pleased to have found an unexpected friend at work, a situation she happens to be discussing with Katherine while walking in central park.

"... and after all of that fighting, I think we're finally getting somewhere. I don't think he was ever really a bad guy, but he could've fooled me." Caroline says as she tugs at her jacket. It's officially fall in the city, Caroline is reminded as she crunches a leaf underfoot. Late fall at that, she reminds herself as the halloween music in stores has recently been replaced with Christmas carols.

"I had no idea it was even that bad with what's-his-name," Katherine sighs, looking down at her feet as she purposefully crushes another leaf with her high heeled boot.

"Klaus… well, technically it's Dr. Merloup, but it doesn't fit him as well."

"Klaus… what a weird name. Sounds like the villain from one of those trashy teen-vampire novels."

Caroline laughs a lot harder than she should and Katherine raises an eyebrow at her. "No, no, it's not that funny, but... he actually kind of looks a little bit like a vampire. He's just so pale." Caroline giggles, but cuts herself short. "Anyways, that's probably the only area of my life lately where I've seen improvement."

"Life's a bitch."

"Yeah…" Caroline glances away from Katherine, pausing to glance at the lone duck in the pond. "You were right."

"I knew it." Katherine smirks. "Right about what, exactly?"

"Tyler," Caroline sighs. "No, he wasn't gay-" Caroline cuts Katherine off before she can ask. "At the ball, he was nice and stuff, but then he dragged me into a back room with his mom, and they started talking about marriage, how it was important for Tyler's career that I gave up my job to have kids, and… I was so taken off guard and I felt so out of control. They were planning my life for me, a life I didn't want, and I felt so helpless and frustrated. But mostly, I felt betrayed, that Tyler hadn't told me anything about his mother's plans, and that he didn't stand up for me for me when I told her off. He's been calling me, but I don't even want to talk to him. How does someone do that to one of their friends?"

Katherine, who has been listening silently to Caroline's story, purses her lips in thought. Care is surprised when Kat doesn't immediately tell Caroline she was being stupid, or that Tyler is a jackass. Normally, Katherine is more of the tough love type who says what she thinks, even if what she thinks is that her friend was being stupid. "Well," She finally begins, "Not every relationship works out the way you want it to. Sometimes you're the jackass, sometimes he's the jackass." Katherine's voice sounds far off, sad almost. She seems out of it, and a little down. "Sometimes the circumstances are fucked up."

"Yeah, I guess," Caroline replies, giving Katherine a confused glance. She's surprised that Katherine hasn't reacted more strongly. Caroline was prepared for Katherine the fire breathing dragon to make an appearance, for her to call Tyler names while chiding Caroline for not seeing him for the ass he was earlier. "But it's not like we were really in a relationship, or I even wanted to be. We never even had sex… The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Everywhere we went was public, and he only kissed me twice, probably on his mom's orders so the photographers could get a nice picture."

Katherine nods, as a fresh smile appears on her face, as she loses her earlier downcast expression. "Thank god you got out of that fucked-up relationship. I don't know if I could handle being friends with a politician's wife. Lawyers are bad enough as it is, and their wives are worse, but give political power to us egomaniacal bastards?" Katherine shakes her head with her usual bravado. But Caroline can tell there's something off. Her smile is a bit too wide, her swagger seems a little forced. Caroline suddenly remembers Elena's words at the ball. Something has been off. Caroline mentally kicks herself for not noticing earlier. She was wrapped up in her own life, but that's no excuse.

"So, speaking of things we're too embarrassed to tell each other about…" Caroline trails off when she sees Katherine's defiant expression.

"What? Me, embarrassed? I'm not ashamed of anything." The last word comes out like a squeak. "Anything," Katherine repeats in a deeper, stronger voice.

"You're not too embarrassed to tell me about Stefan?" Caroline prods, knowing that the name of Katherine's only long term relationship is sure to throw her.

Katherine's defensive expression transforms into one of confusion. "Stefan? What about Stefan. He's engaged now, living in London. Aren't you platonic best friends or something? I can't believe you didn't know that."

Caroline ignores the last part of Katherine's statement. "And are you okay with that?" Caroline presses. "Him being engaged?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Katherine puzzles. "He and I are friends. We broke up a while ago."

Now it's Caroline's turn to be confused. "Wait, but I thought you never spoke to him. I talk to Stefan once a month, and he's never mentioned you."

"That's probably cause there's not much to mention. He and I hadn't talked for years, but when he started talking to Damon again about a year ago, I got his number and we talked a little. There's nothing between us anymore. He's really happy with his fiancée, who I talked to. She's kind of a rich bitch, but if he makes her happy, whatever." Katherine turns to look at Caroline, who's stopped walking. "What?"

"But I…"

"What?" Katherine rolls her eyes. "Spit it out, Care."

Caroline's next sentence spills out of her. "But I thought you and him ended badly and the wedding was messing with your head."

Katherine laughs. "No, I think you always thought me and Stefan were more serious than we were." Katherine links her arm with Caroline as they continue walking. "I thought Stefan had told you the story, when he mentioned that you guys were close again, but from what I remember, this is what happened: Stefan and Elena began dating freshman year, and they were cute for a while. But soon after they started dating, right around when you and Matt became friends with us, Stefan brought Elena to meet Damon, who was a junior at the time. It was pretty obvious to everyone that Elena was into Damon, everyone except you and Stefan." Caroline cringes, remembering how she had been telling Stefan that the love between him and Elena was "epic". At the time, she had thought she was the perfect matchmaker, but now, as she looks back on it, she cringes. She probably had just made it worse for Stefan when him and Elena had broken up.

"Well, you know that part," Katherine rolls her eyes. "But after they broke up, it was only a couple weeks before Stefan was sniffing around me. He was rebounding hard, but it was college and I was naive and weak," Katherine spits that word with venom and self-loathing, "and a cute boy was giving me attention, so I fell for it. And we were happy. For a while anyway. It became obvious that I was only his Elena knockoff, because he couldn't have the real thing. Please, gimme a break," Katherine huffs. "I already wanted to break up before we studied abroad in London together, but being away from Elena really helped. She was so guilty about dumping him that she kept pushing me to stay together with him. Bitch. Always has to be the fucking saint. Even when she fucks her ex's brother." Katherine's tone holds the weight of a lifetime of resentment for her perfect sister.

"Anyways," Katherine exhales, "After we broke up, he was okay for a while, but he hit rock bottom. He got into a rough crowd, and dropped out, and roamed the streets of London for a while. I think Elena blamed me for that in order to avoid blaming herself, but that's besides the point. Damon definitely blamed me, because of course it wasn't his precious angel's fault. Please. A couple years later he cleaned himself up, got British citizenship, attended 'University', and became a banker." Katherine finishes. "Well, you knew the last part."

Caroline is speechless. How could Stefan, noble, kind Stefan, fall off the rails like that? "To be honest, Kat… I didn't know a lot of that, especially the part about him dropping out of school."

Katherine looks incredulous. "What did you think had happened when he didn't come back, or call you? I thought he told you things like this."

"I don't know… Stefan isn't really the best at telling people things. Still, I guess I was so busy with Matt and then with my phD that I sort of just accepted that Stefan wasn't there anymore. In case you don't remember, I was practically as shallow as a kiddie pool for a while back there."

"Damn straight." Katherine mutters in agreement. "You're so much less shallow now."

"Was that… sarcasm?"

"Of course not. You're as deep as the Marianas Trench." Katherine drawls. Caroline sighs as they keep walking in companionable silence for a bit.

"You know," Caroline starts after a while, "That still doesn't explain it."

"Explain what?"

"You. Kat, are you okay? You've been acting weird lately." Caroline glances at an unreadable Katherine. Which is strange, because normally Katherine speaks her mind at all times, no matter how shocking or rude whatever she has to say is. "Like, really weird," Caroline repeats.

"There's nothing wrong with me." Katherine fidgets with her scarf, looking blankly at a couple on a far off bench.

"But, Kat, I-"

"Just drop it." Katherine snaps suddenly.

They are silent again, but this is a different kind of silence. Tense, with unspoken questions and emotions clawing at them.

Katherine's phone buzzes once, and then again, before she sighs and answers it. "Hello?" It's Elena, she mouths to Caroline. "What? Yeah, of course I'm not going to blow you off… for fuck's sake I'm not some delinquent I'm a successful professional lawy-...no I won't stop cursing just cause it 'offends' you… shut up… okay fine... I'll be there… love ya too." Katherine sighs. "For some reason she thought I was going to skip out on lunch with her. Like I would ever do that. She would chain me up and torture me."

Caroline chuckles. As nice as Elena is, sometimes Caroline feels that she holds people to higher standards than are realistically possible. One time during junior year,

"Do you wanna come?" Katherine asks casually, while digging around in her purse. She always does this, just to make Caroline feel included, even though she knows that Caroline would never say yes if Bonnie is coming.

"Maybe. I-" Katherine throws her arm to the side to stop Caroline from moving forward. Caroline saying maybe is flooring in itself, but the sight of a certain couple on a park bench has struck Katherine speechless. She can't make any sounds, all she can do is point.

"What's goin-" Caroline stops short. "Oh," she breathes in a soft voice, as things start to click in to place. "Oh," she says a little louder. "OHHHHHH!" Caroline can't contain her surprise.

Because sitting on secluded park bench, barely visible from the path, is none other than Tyler Lockwood, kissing Jeremy Gilbert.

Oh for sure, they're disguised. Tyler is wearing a beanie, and a scarf pulled up high around his neck, but Katherine and Caroline aren't as easily fooled as the paparazzi. His jawline, his posture, and his clothing all scream "Tyler" to them louder than any words could. And it would take several rounds of plastic surgery before Jeremy would be unrecognizable to his cousin, Katherine.

Caroline and Katherine still are unsure what to do with their gaping mouths when the couple turns around and they spot the girls staring. They immediately leap to their feet and away from each other, with Tyler scratching his head and glancing around quickly to see if anyone else saw. All of them stare awkwardly at each other for what seems like an eternity before Tyler finally finds his voice. "So, uh… I think this might be...be hard to explain, but-"

"Hard to explain?" Caroline explodes. "Yeah, a little, ya think? Just TWO WEEKS ago you were trying to marry me in some weird, psycho, pseudo-arranged marriage, and now you have a boyfriend? Ugh, I mean, what kind of sick game-"

"Whoa, calm down, I can explain," Tyler grabs her arm and looks around, trying to control Caroline's outburst. "I kept trying to call you. Maybe we can go for coffee, somewhere a little more private and-"

"Nope." Caroline crosses her arms and stands firm. "Right here is as good a place as any." Tyler sighs and pulls Caroline down to sit next to him on the bench. While all this has been happening, Katherine and Jeremy have been engaged in a silent conversation. Jeremy shakes his head and pulls Katherine a couple yards away from Caroline and Tyler.

Same as before, it takes Tyler a couple minutes to start. He looks at the ground, then up at the sky, avoiding Caroline's gaze. "Jer hasn't come out to his family yet either." Tyler adjusts his sunglasses and looks down at his shoes. "Even though my family's in politics, I think… I think that they wouldn't kill me or anything. They would be mad… because I couldn't run for president, or maybe even they would still make me run, but, it would be more of an inconvenience to them, a setback in the constant political campaign that's been our life. Jer's family… well, you've probably only met Katherine's parents, who are really nice, but his parents… They wouldn't… well they wouldn't exactly be understanding. I think it's even harder for him than it is for me, knowing that his parents think people like him… like me... are abominations."

"I understand why you haven't told your parents… I know how hard it is, being under the pressure of your parents hopes and dreams for you." Caroline pauses for a bit, remembering how hard she had tried to be everything that her mom wanted her to be, until one day it was all too much and she had left, never to return again to Mystic Falls. "But… Why didn't you tell me? You aren't alone in this… of course you have Jeremy, but I'm here for you too. Above all, Tyler, you're my friend, and I'm here for you, no matter you might think. I just don't understand why you took me on all those fancy dates and made it seem like we were a couple and-"

"Hey! That wasn't me, that was my mom and-" Caroline shakes her head and cuts Tyler off.

"No, you're mother told you to do all of that, but it was you that actually did it. It was you who decided not to tell me about your mother's plans. It was you who kissed me in a romantic way when I thought we were really just friends. And it was you who lied about all the reasons for doing this things. Take some responsibility," Caroline huffs.

Tyler puts his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry," he mumbles into his hands.

"Hey! Look at me Tyler," Caroline grabs his hands and lifts his face gently. "Look at me. I have no problem with who you are, and I'm glad you are happy. I'm just frustrated because I feel a little betrayed right now."

"I didn't mean to! I was going to tell you, I've been meaning to for a while now, and I just, things came up and… that's no excuse though." Both Caroline and Tyler look up as a cyclist rides by. "I'm truly sorry, Care. You've been there for me a lot, and it feels a lot better now that I'm not lying to you." He turns to Caroline, watching her carefully.

Caroline gives a small nod. It's not a perfect apology, and she still feels betrayed, but she's glad that her relationship with Tyler has stabilized into something easily definable. "How long?" she asks as she glances over at Jeremy and Katherine, who are still talking.

"Hmm?"

"How long have you known that you were gay?"

Tyler leans back and stretches his arms over his head. "Oh, I don't know… probably ever since I saw Ryan Phillipe in Cruel Intentions when I was 13. I just knew. But... even then, I felt wrong, like what I was thinking was evil, and that my parents would be mad. Not cause they're crazy religious nutjobs but because I didn't fit into their image of a perfect life."

That really struck a chord with Caroline. "Well... what's your image of the perfect life?I mean, I know you're working in their companies, but… what do you actually want to do?"

"I really wanted to be in broadcast journalism, working for ESPN or something like that. I guess I'm an attractive guy, and I know a lot about sports. I thought it was something I could be good at, ya know? I remember I really wanted to go to Northwestern University, because they had a great journalism program, but my parents told me that only Ivy league schools and degrees in economics or finance were taken seriously, and that I didn't really have a choice in the matter." Tyler has a far-off look in his eyes, remembering the far-off years of college. "Yeah, I don't see how something like that is possible now, but… I'd really like it."

"You know… maybe a couple years ago, I would've said that ship has sailed, but all kinds of people nowadays are following their dreams later in life…" Caroline smiles encouragingly. "Tyler, if it's something that you really want to do, maybe it's time to stand up to your mother and do what you really want to do. You're almost 30. You have to take control of your own life and stop depending on her to tell you what to do."

"Yeah, I know…" Tyler sighs. "I keep telling myself that, but it's just easier to go with the flow. But you're right, it might be hard, but in the end it'll be worth it if I get to do something that makes me happy. Plus, I do have the face for TV," Tyler jokes.

"There's the happy Tyler that I know." Caroline smiles and giggles as Tyler pretends to pose for TV cameras.

"Ready to go?" Katherine's brusque voice cuts through their laughter. Jeremy is standing off to the side behind her, looking peeved.

"Um yeah, sure," Caroline grabs her purse and stands up, and gives Tyler a peck on the cheek. "See ya Ty. See ya Jer." She nods at Jeremy.

As soon as they're out of earshot, Caroline turns to Katherine. "Please, Do NOT say I told you so."

"I wasn't going to," Katherine drawls. She seems slightly out of it, lost in her own thoughts. Caroline would ask her what's going on, but based on what Tyler told her about Jeremy's family, she decides not to pry. Besides, she's already had enough deep conversations for today.


End file.
